Living Donation of Vascularized Composite Allografts

Living donation has become a medically and ethically accepted practice in solid organ transplantation. Published proceedings from the international kidney transplant community and from the Ethics Committee of The Transplantation Society articulated the general principles and specific recommendations for living donation, which remain the backbone of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network requirements and policies. Meanwhile, there have been major advancements in another revolutionary field of transplant medicine: vascularized composite allotransplantation. Recent interventions have demonstrated potential for superior functional and aesthetic outcomes in a single operation when compared to staged conventional reconstructions. In view of these successes, the indications for vascularized composite allotransplantation are expected to broaden to include less extensive types of transplants, which would introduce the possibility of using living vascularized composite allotransplantation donors. In this article, the authors discuss the feasibility and ethics associated with living donation of vascularized composite allografts. The authors explore the current guidelines and policies set by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network regarding living organ donation. In addition, the authors provide several clinical scenarios in which living donation of vascularized composite allotransplantation could be used to augment the reconstructive ladder currently used by reconstructive surgeons to guide their reconstructive strategies.