Novel drug therapies used during third Louisville hand transplant procedure
Suzanne Ildstad, M.D., director of UofL's Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, said the transplant employed innovative strategies for reducing the required number of immunosuppressive drugs.
A 54-year-old Michigan man became the third person to undergo a hand transplant at Jewish Hospital in Louisville and the first to receive treatment with only two anti-rejection drugs. Normally three drugs are necessary.
David Savage lost his dominant right hand in a work-related accident more than 30 years ago.
On Nov. 29, A team of 32 physicians from Jewish Hospital, Kleinert, Kutz Hand Care and the University of Louisville worked 16 hours to attach the donor hand.
Suzanne Ildstad, M.D., director of the University of Louisville's Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, Jewish Hospital Professor of Transplantation and a member of the surgical team, noted that for the first time with a hand transplant, surgeons used a strategy to reduce the number of immunosuppressive drugs.
It may sound trivial that a person normally has to take three drugs to suppress rejection after transplant, Ildstad said, but the toxicity of those drugs, which include steroids, adversely affects the patient's long-term quality of life.
Savage took steroids only for the first two days after surgery.
