What's the Reconstructive Transplant Peer Network?

The Reconstructive Transplant Peer Network (RTPN) is a community resource for people with reconstructive transplants of the hand, face, penis, larynx, and abdominal wall.

Reconstructive transplantation, also called VCA for 'vascularized composite allotransplantation,' is a small field with fewer than 300 patients worldwide. VCA surgeries are rare, complicated, and heavily mediated, with most reconstructive transplant patients being featured in the news. Because VCA is still considered experimental, reconstructive transplant patients are pioneering patients whose lives and bodies are the site of clinical biomedical investigation.

For all these reasons, the RTPN's greatest resource is its members and their knowledge of what it's like to live with a VCA or to care for a reconstructive transplant patient. Since 2020, RTPN members are supporting each other through the unknown, the unexpected, and the everyday relational and medical aspects of long term VCA care.

The RTPN meets monthly online, and the TOUCH HUNGER podcast is produced by members of the RTPN. If you are navigating VCA and wish to join the RTPN, contact us using this website. And please support our work!