Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 2, 2026
Surgical Approach to Full Soft Tissue Face Allograft Procurement for Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation
Published on: December 30, 2025
[Partial allotransplantation of the face including the mandible: a feasibility study]
1CHU Dijon, Service d'ORL et Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale, 3 rue Faubourg Raines, 21000 Dijon, France. mireille.folia@chu-dijon.fr
Objective:
Facial grafts are useful in that they allow the repair of severe facial defects in one step in contrast to the actual available techniques which require staged procedures with limited cosmetic and functional results. The aim of our study was to determine whether it would be possible to include part of the mandible in a partial allotransplant of the face.
Material And Methods:
An anatomical study on the arterial and venous vascularisation of the face and the mandible was performed on 7 heads. Then nine heads were used to describe an anatomical model of harvesting two-thirds of the lower face.
Results:
The study determined that a graft could be viable with a facial artery, inferior dental artery and two veins facial. Thus, a reliable method for harvesting hemi-mandible and total mandible is developed. The average sampling time was 4 hours and thirty minutes. Harvesting a total mandibular graft was more tedious because of the loss of joint laxity caused by the absence of mandibular osteotomy.
Conclusion:
Partial allotransplant of the face including the mandible is feasible. In such transplantations, functional difficulties related to the temporo-mandibular joint and orthognathic problems need to be overcome.
