Mobilizing Public Interest in Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation: An Analysis of Online Traffic.

Abstract

Despite growing public interest in and extensive media coverage of facial transplantation, a recent survey study found that only 63% of laypersons demonstrate basic awareness of the field.1 On February 3, 2021, our institution published a press release regarding our latest transplant recipient, who received a face and bilateral hands. We present this viewpoint to discuss our analyses of webpage traffic and Google trends, which illustrates the public’s curiosity regarding vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) and sheds light on how we may overcome the field’s key obstacles; in particular, donor pool expansion. Analysis of online traffic enables researchers to derive market intelligence by gauging public interest. Its relevance in transplantation was demonstrated by Gordon et al.,2 who used webpage traffic data to highlight the effectiveness of call-to-action campaigns for living kidney donors. We compared the online traffic of our facial transplantation program’s homepage during the week of the press release (February 2, 2021, to February 8, 2021) with that of the preceding week. A 1230.67% increase in visits to our facial transplantation program’s homepage (https://nyulangone.org/locations/face-transplant-program) was revealed. Most of the traffic (72.60%) was driven by natural searches, indicating organic interest from the public (Fig. 1). Such interest was further supported by Google trends showing the greatest annual spike in queries during the week of the press release (Fig. 2).Fig. 1.: Face transplant program webpage visits by acquisition channel in the week of the press release. “Organic search” refers to visitors who found our website using search tools such as Google. “Direct access” refers to visitors who accessed the webpage without clicking on a link. “Referring domains” refers to visitors who clicked on a link in other webpages, and “social media” refers to visitors coming from social media posts (eg, Facebook, Instagram).Fig. 2.: Google trends analysis. Graphical representation of Google queries in the United States for face transplant (dark purple) and face and hand transplant (light purple) between July 26, 2020, and July 11, 2021, demonstrating the maximum value for both relevant search terms occurred during the week of January 31, 2021, to February 6, 2021, coinciding with the press release. The y axis shows the normalized search frequency; each data point is divided by the total searches in a given geography and time range to compare relative popularity. The resulting numbers are scaled on a range of 0 to 100 based on a topic’s proportion to all searches on all topics. The x axis shows the time frame of relevant search results.Organ transplantation is hindered by a limited supply of donors; facial transplantation donor identification is uniquely challenging because of the stringent immunologic, cephalometric, and aesthetic considerations that must be taken into account.3 Moreover, unlike solid organs, facial transplantation donation requires a separate consent with the approval of a decedent’s family, further constricting the theoretical donor pool. Previous research has shown that 48% of Americans would be willing to donate their face.4 However, estimates show that only one-third of the U.S. population has completed advanced directives,5 and it is likely that significantly fewer have discussed facial transplantation donation with relevant family members. The general public, as a broad stakeholder, wields considerable power to advance the field of VCA. Educational interventions have proven successful at increasing public awareness and willingness to donate.1 The organic interest in VCA generated through public relations may be leveraged to inform and mobilize potential donors at the time of peak engagement. Moreover, public education could also be helpful in promoting legislative actions to reduce friction in the donation process. Given the spike in interest generated by our press release, timely provision of educational material and direct links to local donor registries would be crucial to make the best use of public interest. In summary, we found a substantial increase in traffic to our facial transplantation program’s webpage after issuing a press release on a successful face and bilateral hand transplant. Donor shortages remain one of the greatest challenges in the field of VCA. Spikes in interest represent unique opportunities that can be leveraged to educate the public, promote advocacy of the field, and expand the donor pool. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank the donor and recipient patients and families. DISCLOSURE The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this article.