title: Composite tissue allotransplantation.
abstract: Composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) recently took its first steps in the clinical arena in 1998 with the successful hand transplant performed in Lyons, France. That single operation represented a culmination of many years of laboratory research in multiple fields involving integumentary/musculoskeletal transplantation. Here we review the prerequisite developments in the field of immunology, microsurgery, and pharmacotherapy that helped bring CTA to clinical reality. This new field still has many unanswered questions which are addressed below. Additionally, new evolving research in CTA is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgical Research, Cooper Health System, UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Camden, New Jersey 08103, USA.
authors.forename: Chau
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.forename: Marat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Kann
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hewitt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D014181:Transplantation Immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous