title: Concomitant face and hand transplantation: perfect solution or perfect storm?
abstract: Face and hand composite tissue allotransplantations have evolved into a promising subset of reconstructive transplant surgery due to recent advances in immunotherapy. Concomitant composite tissue allotransplantation, which involves a variable combination of facial (myocutaneous versus osteomyocutaneous) and upper extremity (ie, various levels) composite subtypes, has been performed infrequently at this time. In this review, we will describe many reasons as to why this field remains unexplored. Undoubtedly, future investigation is warranted to investigate the potential advantages and disadvantages of using this approach versus a staged manner for alloreconstruction and to identify the complexities of cortical reorganization and rehabilitation in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. cgordon5@partners.org
authors.forename: Chad R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zor
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cetrulo
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brandacher
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sacks
authors.forename: W P Andrew
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D054445:Facial Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D063987:Hand Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D014181:Transplantation Immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous