Analysis In Vivo of the Hemifacial Transplantation Surgical Technique

: Approximately 35 facial transplants have been performed worldwide. Many under-explored aspects of this procedure remain, some emerging as the survivors age. Human-like preclinical trial models, including swine, can be explored and developed as a foundation for subsequent studies. A previously described surgical technique for face transplantation in swine carcasses has been employed herein, evaluating its reproducibility in a live pig and the viability of the vascular pedicles. METHOD: Flap construction was performed according to the experimental model developed in our service. Under general anesthesia, the structures of the left hemiface of a pig were dissected. Vascular pedicles were the facial artery, caudal auricular artery, and external jugular vein. After dissection, adequate tissue perfusion of the entire explant by those pedicles was documented through vessel filling, observation of the ischemic area, and posterior reperfusion. RESULTS: A capillary reperfusion test confirmed that the main arterial pedicle irrigating the hemiface flap was the facial artery. The same technique showed that despite divergent literary opinions on the irrigation of the auricular region, the caudal auricular artery provides the arterial supply for the external ear. Performing the surgical technique was more difficult in vivo due to the inherent complications of a live subject. CONCLUSION: The methodology for the facial transplant technique in swine carcasses was satisfactorily reproducible in a live animal. The main arterial pedicle responsible for flap irrigation is the facial artery, and the fact that the vessel supplying the outer ear is the caudal atrial artery was confirmed.