Groundbreaking Efforts in Hand Transplantation

Several NFT staff and board members recently had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Linda Cendales, who is leading groundbreaking efforts in the area of hand transplantation. She has quite an impressive resumé and is overseeing the program at Emory Transplant Center in Atlanta. Dr. Cendales is the only surgeon in the United States with formal training in all three areas of hand, microsurgery and transplant surgery. She established a comprehensive program at Emory to study Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA), which is the transplantation of multiple tissues (skin, muscle, bone, cartilage, nerve, tendon and vessels) as a functional unit.

Hand transplants are currently under investigation and are often categorized as cosmetic surgery by insurance companies, so many patients do not have coverage for the expenses. Dr. Cendales sees the critical need for patients to regain mobility and motor skills, and she is dedicated to helping these patients.

NFT is committed to helping ALL transplant candidates and recipients raise funds to help with their expenses. As advances in the medical field continue to develop, we expect to see more patients in need of our services.