Three Patients with Full Facial Transplantation

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 366; no. 8; pp. 715 - 722
• Main Authors: Pomahac, Bohdan, Pribaz, Julian, Eriksson, Elof, Bueno, Ericka M, Diaz-Siso, J. Rodrigo, Rybicki, Frank J, Annino, Donald J, Orgill, Dennis, Caterson, Edward J, Caterson, Stephanie A, Carty, Matthew J, Chun, Yoon S, Sampson, Christian E, Janis, Jeffrey E, Alam, Daniel S, Saavedra, Arturo, Molnar, Joseph A, Edrich, Thomas, Marty, Francisco M, Tullius, Stefan G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Waltham, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 23.02.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Allografts; Biological and medical sciences; Biopsy; Blood & organ donations; Defects; Erythrocyte Transfusion; Facial Injuries - surgery; Facial Transplantation - methods; Female; Follow-Up Studies; General aspects; Glucocorticoids; Graft Rejection; Hospitals; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Patients; Plastic surgery; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures - methods; Sensory neurons; Surgical Wound Infection; Teams; Transplantation; Transplantation, Homologous; Transplants & implants; Womens health; Human; Medicine; Treatment; Surgery; Graft; Patient; Transplantation; Face
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1111432

The authors report on three patients who received full-face transplants in procedures aimed at functional restoration. Six months after transplantation, facial appearance and function were improved and glucocorticoids had been successfully withdrawn in all patients. Facial transplantation is a single, complex operation intended to transform severely deformed features to near-normal appearance and function with the use of techniques that conventional plastic surgery cannot match. 1 Since 2005, a total of 18 patients have received transplants with promising results. 2 – 7 Most facial transplantations have been designed to restore partial-face defects; full-face transplantations include the forehead, eyelids, nose, lips, chin, and cheeks, 8 , 9 with or without underlying bone. Full-face transplantation has been considered nearly impossible because of the complexity of the blood supply as well as ethical, psychological, and social implications. We report our initial experience in full-face . . .