Facial transplantation: a working party report from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Abstract

We are publishing this working party report on facial transplantation from the Royal College of Surgeons, England, in order to get opinions from the transplant community as to whether it is appropriate or not to perform this procedure at this point in time. There is no question that technically this can be done, but do the risks of failure, both technical and immunological, and the long-term risks of immunosuppression outweigh the potential benefits to the recipient who undoubtedly would be a severely burnt patient with a very scarred immobile face? The problems are not primarily technical but are immunological, psychological, and legal.