Three patients with full facial transplantation.
Unlike conventional reconstruction, facial transplantation seeks to correct severe deformities in a single operation. We report on three patients who received full-face transplants at our institution in 2011 in operations that aimed for functional restoration by coaptation of all main available motor and sensory nerves. We enumerate the technical challenges and postoperative complications and their management, including single episodes of acute rejection in two patients. At 6 months of follow-up, all facial allografts were surviving, facial appearance and function were improved, and glucocorticoids were successfully withdrawn in all patients.
Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. bpomahac@partners.org
Bohdan
B
Pomahac
Julian
J
Pribaz
Elof
E
Eriksson
Ericka M
EM
Bueno
J Rodrigo
JR
Diaz-Siso
Frank J
FJ
Rybicki
Donald J
DJ
Annino
Dennis
D
Orgill
Edward J
EJ
Caterson
Stephanie A
SA
Caterson
Matthew J
MJ
Carty
Yoon S
YS
Chun
Christian E
CE
Sampson
Jeffrey E
JE
Janis
Daniel S
DS
Alam
Arturo
A
Saavedra
Joseph A
JA
Molnar
Thomas
T
Edrich
Francisco M
FM
Marty
Stefan G
SG
Tullius
D000328:Adult; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D054445:Facial Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous