Ethical Issues in Pediatric Face Transplantation: Should We Perform Face Transplantation in Children?

International consensus recommendations on face transplantation: A 2-step Delphi study

Face transplantation is a viable reconstructive approach for severe craniofacial defects. Despite the evolution witnessed in the field, ethical aspects, clinical and psychosocial implications, public perception, and economic sustainability remain the subject of debate and unanswered questions. Furthermore, poor data reporting and sharing, the absence of standardized metrics for outcome evaluation, and the lack of consensus definitions of success and failure have hampered the development of a "transplantation culture" on a global scale. We completed a 2-round online modified Delphi process with 35 international face transplant stakeholders, including surgeons, clinicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, ethicists, policymakers, and researchers, with a representation of 10 of the 19 face transplant teams that had already performed the procedure and 73% of face transplants. Themes addressed included patient assessment and selection, indications, social support networks, clinical framework, surgical considerations, data on patient progress and outcomes, definitions of success and failure, public image and perception, and financial sustainability. The presented recommendations are the product of a shared commitment of face transplant teams to foster the development of face transplantation and are aimed at providing a gold standard of practice and policy.

Recipient Selection Criteria for Facial Transplantation: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Recipient selection is an important determinant of surgical outcomes in facial transplantation (FT). Appropriately, each FT program develops their own guidelines for recipient selection criteria. Currently, there is no resource to simultaneously assess and identify similarities and differences between these guidelines. Such information could be useful in distinguishing areas of FT that are well understood from those that could benefit from further exploration.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review of the scientific literature from inception to June 18, 2021, using Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus to identify articles pertaining to recipient selection criteria. Clinical trials were identified through the Clinicaltrials.gov registry. United States and international program websites were reviewed for patient-facing information.

RESULTS

Our systematic review yielded 90 suitable articles, 8 clinical trials, and 7 program websites containing the recipient selection criteria of 24 different FT programs. The most reported on recipient criteria were age, positive human immunodeficiency viral status (HIV+), positive hepatitis C viral status, psychosocial stability, and medical compliance. Other criteria were rarely addressed, such as blindness and recipient immune status.

CONCLUSIONS

Guidelines among different face transplant programs are changing over time. We found consensus on certain recipient selection criteria, but the majority remain program or surgeon dependent, emphasizing that FT is still an evolving procedure. Although most programs reported on their recipient selection criteria, the rationale was often missing. Further discussion about recipient selection criteria and the reasoning behind employing or changing them will help advance the field.

The Ever-Important Role of Ethics in Plastic Surgery Today

SUMMARY

As the field of plastic surgery continues to advance, so too do the number and complexity of ethical challenges faced by plastic surgeons. There is a paucity of literature, however, focusing on ethics in plastic surgery. Therefore, the authors offer a timely special topic series discussing ethical issues relevant to the field of plastic surgery. The goals of this series are four-fold: (1) to increase awareness of both frequently and less commonly encountered ethical issues in plastic surgery, (2) to foster discussion and debate of relevant and significant ethical issues, (3) to facilitate clinical ethics education and scholarship in plastic surgery, and (4) to apply an understanding and analysis of ethical issues in a way that optimizes clinical decision-making and delivery of patient care. In this introductory article, the authors discuss the current state of medical ethics scholarship in plastic surgery and introduce the first of several topics that will be detailed in the series. Ultimately, the hope is that increased awareness of the ethical challenges faced by surgeons and patients will improve the practice of plastic surgery.

Facial Transplantation: Complications, Outcomes, and Long-Term Management Strategies

Within the past two decades, vascularized facial composite allotransplantation has evolved into a viable option in the reconstructive surgeons' armamentarium for patients with extensive facial disfigurements. As it has expanded the frontiers of microsurgical reconstructive techniques, facial transplantation has come to garner widespread interest within both the medical community and the general public. The procedure has established itself as an amalgamation of the forefronts of reconstructive microsurgery, immunology, and transplantation science. Therein too lies its complexity as multifaceted scientific developments are met with ethical and social issues. Both patients and physicians are faced with the everlasting challenges of immunosuppression regimens and their inherent complications, long-term aesthetic and functional considerations, the role of revision procedures, and the inevitable psychosocial implications. This article reflects on the medical and surgical advancements in facial transplantation surgery and highlights anticipated future challenges. It aims to encourage discussion regarding anticipated barriers to current practice and suggest future directions as we transition into the next phase of facial allograft transplantation.

Equity in access to facial transplantation

We examine ethical considerations in access to facial transplantation (FT), with implications for promoting health equity. As a form of vascularised composite allotransplantation, FT is still considered innovative with a relatively low volume of procedures performed to date by a small number of active FT programmes worldwide. However, as numbers continue to increase and institutions look to establish new FT programmes, we anticipate that attention will shift from feasibility towards ensuring the benefits of FT are equitably available to those in need. This manuscript assesses barriers to care and their ethical implications across a number of considerations, with the intent of mapping various factors relating to health equity and fair access to FT. Evidence is drawn from an evolving clinical experience as well as published scholarship addressing several dimensions of access to FT. We also explore novel concerns that have yet to be mentioned in the literature.

The current outcomes and future challenges in pediatric vascularized composite allotransplantation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

We review the outcomes and future challenges associated with pediatric vascularized composite allotransplantation, including follow-up data from our bilateral pediatric hand-forearm transplantation.

RECENT FINDINGS

In 2015, the first heterologous pediatric upper extremity hand-forearm transplant was performed at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and in 2019, the first pediatric neck reconstructive transplantation was performed in Poland. The 5-year follow-up of the pediatric upper extremity recipient demonstrates similar growth rates bilaterally, an increase in bone age parallel to chronologic age, and perhaps similar overall growth to nontransplant norms. The pediatric upper extremity recipient continues to make gains in functional independence. He excels academically and participates in various extracurricular activities. Future challenges unique to the pediatric population include ethical issues of informed consent, psychosocial implications, limited donor pool, posttransplant compliance issues, and greater life expectancy and therefore time to inherit the many complications of immunosuppression.

SUMMARY

Currently, we recommend pediatric vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) for bilateral upper extremity amputees, preferably on immunosuppression already, and those patients who would have the most potential gain not available through standard reconstructive techniques while being able to comply with postoperative immunosuppression protocols, surveillance, rehabilitation, and follow-up.

The Ethics of Facial Allotransplantation: A Systematic Review

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.

Currently, there are more than 40 cases of facial allotransplantation performed by 13 different groups in 10 countries. Although it has become a potential option to reconstruct and restore the function and appearance of severely facially disfigured individuals, the ethical concerns of facial allotransplantation remain unsolved. We conducted a systematic review to better understand the ethical concerns on facial allotransplantation and the changing trends of the ethical debate over time.

Ethicists' Opinions Regarding the Permissibility of Face Transplant

BACKGROUND

Face transplantation can offer functional and aesthetic restoration to patients who have exhausted their reconstructive options, improving quality of life and psychosocial integration. Ethical issues in face transplantation abound, including questions of patient selection and evaluation before transplantation. To date, there has been no study of ethicists' opinions regarding face transplantation.

METHODS

An online survey of attendees of the 2015 International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation (n = 401) assessed ethicists' opinions about face transplantation. Questions examined the risk-to-benefit ratio of immunosuppression; permissibility of face transplantation in subpopulations (including children and blind patients); donor-recipient age, sex, and ethnicity mismatches; and ethical oversight.

RESULTS

Most ethicists (84 percent) agreed that it is permissible to perform a face transplantation on an adult in the absence of clear medical contraindications. Most respondents also agreed that it is permissible to perform a face transplantation on a child (62 percent) or a blind patient (61 percent), yet demonstrated less consensus regarding the permissibility of performing a face transplantation on patients with an increased risk of immune rejection. Respondents were generally supportive of age, sex, and ethnicity mismatches, with 43 percent indicating that it is permissible to have a sex mismatch. The majority answered that face transplantation should be covered by federal insurance (74 percent).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides insight into clinical ethicists' views regarding face transplantation. Most ethicists support the ethical permissibility of face transplantation, and did not have concerns about age, sex, and ethnicity mismatches. These findings highlight emerging areas of consensus regarding the ethical permissibility of face transplantation.

The Baltimore Criteria for an ethical approach to penile transplantation: a clinical guideline

Significant advances and increasing acceptance of vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) have contributed to emerging success of penile transplantation. The aims of penile transplantation are fourfold: adequate urinary function, enabling natural erections, restoration of erogenous sensation and appearance of external male genitalia. Successful penile transplantation also requires limiting risks and managing complications of lifelong immunosuppression. Given the limited experience with this procedure, potential recipients must understand that penile transplantation is not currently standard of care and long-term functional outcomes are unknown. Moreover, these transplants are associated with complex ethical issues. Nevertheless, as the efficacy and safety of penile transplantation are being evaluated, clear indications for transplant are needed. Although preliminary recommendations have been proposed, a more comprehensive framework is needed. We performed a literature review for English language publications related to penile transplantation and ethics. Based on the results of the search, a review of prior recommendations, and our experience performing the first whole male genital allotransplantation including penis, scrotum and abdominal wall; screening and identifying potential donors and recipients for the procedure; and addressing the associated ethical issues, we propose guidelines for responsible penile transplantation: The Baltimore Criteria for an Ethical Approach to Penile Transplantation.

Pediatric face transplantation: a viable option?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Face transplantation is no longer a young field. Reported outcomes suggest that this life-enhancing transplantation is viable and ethically justified for appropriate patients. Given that pediatric hand transplantation has been performed with promising reported outcomes, it is time to consider how to properly expand the field of face transplantation into pediatric patients.

RECENT FINDINGS

Appropriate collaboration between adult and pediatric colleagues can mitigate risks associated with expanding surgical innovation between respective patient demographics. The reported outcomes of the first pediatric hand transplant question the appropriateness of increasing immunosuppression burden to a patient on an existing regimen for prior solid organ allotransplantion. Young donor allografts prove to be more resilient, however, implying that managing rejection episodes is key to long-term viability. Expanding face transplants into a younger population must consider the social functions of the face, and may facilitate healthy personal development given the cultural value appearance has in real life and in social media.

SUMMARY

We believe that pediatric face transplantation is not just a viable option, but an ethically reasonable one as long as the field proceeds with cautious optimism.

Innovations in reconstructive microsurgery: Reconstructive transplantation

In the past 20 years, reconstructive transplantation (RT) has emerged as a viable reconstructive option for carefully selected patients. More than 100 upper extremity and 40 face transplants have been performed worldwide to date. Concomitantly, the portfolio of reconstructive transplantation has been extended by additional procedures such as lower extremities, abdominal wall, neck, uterus, genitourinary, and pediatric transplants. In the present review article, we aim to summarize the current state of knowledge about this exciting field.