First transplantations that can be categorized as VCA were done already in the early and mid-1990’s. These included vascularized knee joints and antebrachial motor units for hand. The fear for immunogenicity of skin slowed the progression until the first modern era successful upper extremity transplantation was performed in 1998 by the team led by Max Dubernard in Lyon. There had been an attempt for hand transplantation already in 1964, but it failed soon due to rejection. The first laryngotracheal transplantation was performed in 1998 by Strome et al in Cleveland Philadelphia, the first abdominal wall transplantation in 2001 by Levi et al in Miami, Florida, tongue in 2003 by Ewer et al in Vienna, Austria, face in 2005 by Devauchelle et al in Lyon, penis in 2006 by Hu et al in Guangzhou, China, and lower extremity in 2006 by Zuker et al in Toronto, Canada.

During the past 20 years the number and types of VCA has steadily increased. However, since the field is still at the beginning of the journey in many of these procedures the numbers are still small. The amount of upper extremity transplantations to date is 160, for face 55, for abdominal wall 40, larynx 15, and for penis five transplantations. Most VCA’s have been performed in Europe or USA but most rapid increase in activity is in Asia. There are approximately 60 institutions in the world that have performed some type of VCA in 22 countries and in all five continents.

Since the field is small, scattered and evolving in many directions there is a true need for global network and community. ISVCA was born in 2002 for this purpose already in the early days of VCA.