Transplanted fingerprints: a preliminary case report 40 months posttransplant

For the past century, fingerprints have been considered permanent and specific for each individual. However, with the advances in transplantology, fingerprints have lost their permanence. Because no study has yet been described, we examined possible changes in the fingerprint pattern of a transplanted hand. In 2006, we performed a hand transplantation on a 32-year-old man. The donor was revealed to have had a criminal record; his fingerprints were stored in the Polish automated fingerprint identification system. A forensic technician fingerprinted the transplanted hand nine times between June 2006 and September 2009. The appearance of minutiae and white lines and the change in the distance between papillary ridges were assessed in the thumbprints of the transplanted hand. The appearance of white lines was only temporary; at no point did they impair fingerprint identification. No significant changes occurred in the distance between the friction ridges. The observed small differences were ascribed to the two techniques used to collect the prints (spoon vs rolling). The number of minutiae ranged from 1 to 3, reaching a maximum in the third posttransplant month. A 40-month observation showed no significant changes in the fingerprints of the transplanted hand. Nevertheless, a long-term study is needed because of the risk of chronic rejection. The noninvasiveness of dactylography argues for inspecting its application to diagnose acute rejection. Finally, lawmakers should be made aware of the personal-protection issues related to the growing number of hand-transplant recipients.