Psychosocial considerations in the assessment of hand transplant candidates: A single‐center experience and brief literature review

Abstract

Vascularized composite allograft, including hand transplantation (HT), has gained wider usage as a reconstructive treatment over the past 30 years. HT recipients face unique psychosocial challenges compared to their solid organ and/or bone marrow transplant counterparts. Accordingly, the psychosocial evaluation among HT candidates continues to evolve, leaving a lack of consensus as to the critical psychosocial domains and psychometric testing instruments to help evaluate individuals considering HT. The present manuscript describes the psychosocial evaluation process within the Duke HT program, which been contacted by 80 potential candidates since 2014.The Duke HT evaluation process incorporates a comprehensive psychosocial assessment within domains including personality, cognitive function, mood, behavioral adherence, social support, and substance use history, among others. Our experience underscores the potential utility of collecting thorough psychosocial evaluations, supplemented by psychometric test data, to comprehensively assess potential HT candidates.

Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation of the Hand

“…The field of HT is exceptionally dynamic and scientific advancement will inevitably drive changes in eligibility criteria, one past example is the age of eligibility. Historically, most centers placed strict age Akdeniz University Hospital 15,16 Antalya, Turkey 2021 Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences 17,18 Kochi, India 2017 Boston Children's Hospital 19 Boston, MA 2022 Brigham and Women's Hospital [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Boston, United States 2011-2022 Chang Gung Memorial Hospital [28][29][30][31] Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 5,[32][33][34][35][36] Taipei, Taiwan Philadelphia, PA 2016-2020 2016-2022 Clinica Cavadas [37][38][39][40][41] Valencia, Spain 2009, 2011 Duke University [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Durham, USA 2011, 2018, 2021, 2022 Emory University 50,51 Atlanta, United States 2015 Hacettepe University 52 Ankara, Turkey 2014 Harbin Medical University 53 Harbin, China 2016 Hôpital Edouard Herriot 9,[54][55]…”