Is Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation a Suitable Reconstructive Option for Extensive Defects in Burned Patients?…

Vascularized composite tissue allotransplantation (VCA) is a recent reconstructive entity that bases on the restoration of deformity by the allotransplantation of a vascularised tissue unit with more components (skin, muscle, bone, cartilage, bone marrow, tendon, nerve). Since the field emerged with the first hand transplant performed in France in 1998, VCA showed a huge potential in replacement of extensive tissue defects and disfigurements (after burns, severe high energy trauma like gunshots, congenital facial malformations), offering a viable treatment option for injuries that involve multiple layers of functional tissue, impossible to repair using conventional surgical techniques, permitting restoration of extensive defects in just one stage procedure with good functional and aesthetic results. A significant number of those procedures have been reported worldwide for various anatomic locations including upper and lower extremities, face, tongue, trachea, larynx, abdominal wall, uterus and penis. These procedures are offered for quality of life and functional indications rather than life-saving indications [1-7]. […]