It's very difficult to say what the cost will be for the hand transplant,
because it is still in its experimental stage. Most of the hospitals
are picking up the costs because of this experimental stage. However,
the cost when this surgery is done widespread, if it does, will be similar
to that of a kidney transplant. And that is about $100,000 for the surgery,
and then about $2,000 a month for maintenance and follow-up. This $2,000
is for anti-rejection drugs, cocktail of immunosuppressant drugs. Insurance
companies, at least in the hand surgeries at Jewish Hospital, were actually
covering the cost of the maintenance drugs, immunosuppressants (which
is the $2,000 a month). In another source, the costs of the surgery
were estimated around $150,000 with a yearly follow-up cost of $20,000-$30,000
(this figure includes the immunosupressants). The cost of the surgery,
at least at Jewish hospital in Kentucky, was picked up by the hospital.
The question arises whether the money would be better spent giving psychological support to the person without a hand, or be better spent creating better prosthetic hands. In the world today, the prosthetic hand does not give feeling back, and does allow the small little movements, like buttoning your shirt, that the hand transplant will allow if successful. Nobody really considers doing a foot transplant because the prostheses that are available for lower extremities are excellent. So the risk posed by the immunosuppressant drugs would not justify the benefits. The best candidates for hand transplant patients are those that are already taking immunosuppressant drugs because the largest downfall to this surgery is the lifetime of immunosuppressant needed. Immunosuppressant drugs decrease the immune response making people more likely to catch pneumonia, and other diseases.
