several factors including cancer, malformations and traumas may cause large facial mutilation. these functional and aesthetic deformities negatively affect the psychological perspectives and quality of life of the mutilated patient. conventional treatments are prone to fail aesthetically and functionally. the recent introduction of the composite tissue allotransplantation (cta), which uses tran...

Composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) is an option recently introduced for major reconstruction of tissue defects. Since announcements of successful hand, larynx, knee, muscle, nerve, abdominal wall and, most recently, partial face transplantation, CTA has become one of the techniques used by plastic and reconstructive surgeons [1]. Clinical success in CTA is the culmination of progress in...

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 immunolo...

Rats are the most frequently used animals in composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) studies and most craniofacial composite tissue transplantation models are described in rats. During the last 10 years, a total of 8 different craniofacial composite tissue allotransplantation (CCTA) models have designed and developed in rats. These models include full face/scalp transplants, hemiface transpl...

Reconstruction of severe composite defects of the face is challenging for reconstructive surgeons. Despite several reconstructive techniques, the functional and aesthetic results of these patients are not acceptable. As a major organ, face, has an utmost importance in daily life. The specific characteristics of face require not a reconstruction, but a replace with same tissue. With the evolutio...

Fourteen face transplants have been performed worldwide since the procedure was successfully introduced in 2005. Vascularized composite tissue allotransplantation may now be considered a viable option for the repair of complex craniofacial defects, for which the results of autologus reconstruction remain suboptimal. However, the benefits must be balanced against the risks inherent in major surg...

Each year an estimated 7-million people in the USA need composite tissue reconstruction because of surgical excision of tumors, accidents and congenital malformations. Limb amputees alone comprise over 1.2 million of these. This figure is more than double the number of solid organs needed for transplantation. Composite tissue allotransplantation in the form of hand and facial tissue transplanta...