Composite tissue allotransplantation of the face: Decision analysis model

Characterization of Face Transplant Candidates Evaluated at Cleveland Clinic and Algorithm to Maximize Efficacy of Screening Process

INTRODUCTION

As a high-volume referral center for facial transplantation, we have learned significantly from the screening, evaluation, and enrollment process. This report analyzes our algorithm for the assessment of potential face transplant candidates referred to our institution.

METHODS

After institutional review board approval in 2004, a prospectively maintained database was created for patients who were referred face transplant. Records were reviewed for the nature of tissue defect, functional deficit, surgical and medical history, and expert recommendations.Our algorithm begins with a review of a patient's file with a focus on institutional review board criteria. After screening, a phone interview is conducted, and transplantation is discussed. Patients are presented to the team to analyze the medical, psychiatric, and surgical history; support network; and geographic location. Eligible patients are invited for an in-person evaluation, and the case is reviewed again with the team. If approved, the patient can provide consent for transplantation.

RESULTS

More than 200 patients were referred for transplant evaluation at the Cleveland Clinic from 2004 to 2016. Sixty were eligible for further evaluation for face transplantation based on preliminary screening. Thirteen (6.5% of original cohort) were invited for in-person evaluation and physical examination. Five (2.5% of original cohort, 38.4% invited cohort) of these 13 patients underwent face transplantation, of whom, 3 (1.5% of original cohort, 23.1% invited cohort) underwent face transplantation at our institution. All 3 patients who were ultimately transplanted were referred by a physician.

DISCUSSION

As the availability of public information on face transplant increases, it is likely that an increase in self-referral for face transplantation will occur. Thus, it is critical that institutions adopt a systematic approach to triage in order to identify appropriate patients. Our algorithm allowed for a high enrollment and transplantation ratio to save patient and institution time and resources. This could be easily adopted by other institutions to save time, money, and resources.

Facial Transplantation in a Nationalized Health System: The Canadian Experience

Facial transplantation (FT) is recognized as the ultimate reconstruction for severely disfigured patients. The substantial cost of these procedures in a nationalized health system has not been extensively published. The first Canadian FT performed in May 2018 was a great opportunity to address this subject and evaluate the viability of such a program.

Ethical issues in pediatric face transplantation

Facial transplantation has become a reality in adult medicine. Children are subject to congenital craniofacial differences, disease-related, traumatic, or thermochemical craniofacial changes and might be suitable for face transplantation. This manuscript addresses unique ethical issues in considering potential pediatric face transplant. These challenges are operant at the individual, technologic, and psychosocial level for clinicians, investigators, and society.

The utility of hand transplantation in hand amputee patients

PURPOSE

To measure the desirable health outcome, termed utility, and the expected quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained with hand composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) using hand amputee patients and the general public.

METHODS

Using the standard gamble (SG) and time trade-off (TTO) techniques, utilities were obtained from 30 general public participants and 12 amputee patients. The health utility and net QALYs gained or lost with transplantation were computed. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to account for the effects of lifelong immunosuppression on the life expectancy of transplant recipients. Higher scores represent greater utility.

RESULTS

Hand amputation mean health utility as measured by the SG and TTO methods, respectively, was 0.72 and 0.80 for the general public and 0.69 and 0.70 for hand amputees. In comparison, hand CTA mean health utility was 0.74 and 0.82 for the general public and 0.83 and 0.86 for amputees. Hand CTA imparted an expected gain of 0.9 QALYs (SG and TTO) in the general public and 7.0 (TTO) and 7.8 (SG) QALYs in hand amputees. A loss of at least 1.7 QALYs was demonstrated when decreasing the life expectancy in the sensitivity analysis in the hand amputee group.

CONCLUSIONS

Hand amputee patients did not show a preference toward hand CTA with its inherent risks. With this procedure being increasingly adopted worldwide, the benefits must be carefully weighed against the risks of lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. This study does not show clear benefit to advocate hand CTA.

Vascularized Composite Allografts: Procurement, Allocation, and Implementation

Vascularized composite allotransplantation is a continuously evolving area of modern transplant medicine. Recently, vascularized composite allografts (VCAs) have been formally classified as 'organs'. In this review, key aspects of VCA procurement are discussed, with a special focus on interaction with the procurement of classical solid organs. In addition, options for a matching and allocation system that ensures VCA donor organs are allocated to the best-suited recipients are looked at. Finally, the different steps needed to promote VCA transplantation in society in general and in the medical community in particular are highlighted.

Pediatric facial transplantation: Ethical considerations

Facial transplantation is becoming increasingly accepted as a method of reconstructing otherwise unreconstructable adult faces. As this modality is made more available, we must turn our attention to pediatric patients who may benefit from facial transplantation. In the current article, the authors present and briefly examine the most pressing ethical challenges posed by the possibility of performing facial transplantation on pediatric patients. Furthermore, they issue a call for a policy statement on pediatric facial transplantation. The present article may serve as a first step in that direction, highlighting ethical issues that would need to be considered in the creation of such a statement.

Utility Outcome Assessment of the Aging Neck following Massive Weight Loss

Objective

The authors set out to quantify the health state utility assessment of living with the physical appearance of the aging neck following massive weight loss. Described utility scores may help to establish the health burden of the aging neck in the growing bariatric patient population.

Study Design

Prospective cohort observational study.

Setting

Tertiary referral medical center.

Subjects and Methods

Three validated tools were used to determine utility scores for living with an aging neck: visual analog scale (VAS), time trade-off (TTO), and standard gamble (SG). A 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the subjects’ ease of understanding. A prospective sample of volunteers from the general population and medical students was used for this assessment.

Results

In total, 118 prospective volunteers were included in the survey. All measures (VAS, TTO, SG); (0.89 ± 0.07, 0.94 ± 0.08, and 0.95 ± 0.10, respectively) varied ( P < .0001) from the corresponding ones for monocular blindness (0.62 ± 0.18, 0.87 ± 0.15, and 0.85 ± 0.20, respectively) and binocular blindness (0.32 ± 0.18, 0.66 ± 0.25, and 0.64 ± 0.28, respectively).

Conclusion

The authors objectified the health state of living with an aging neck in the massive weight loss patient with utility scores (TTO, 0.94) comparable with those living with obstructive sleep apnea. This sample population, if faced with an aging neck following massive weight loss, would undertake a neck rejuvenation procedure with a theoretical 5% chance of mortality and would be willing to trade 2.1 years of remaining life-years to attain this procedure.

A decision analysis of amputation versus reconstruction for severe open tibial fracture from the physician and patient perspectives

Although reconstruction is often the primary choice of surgeons after an open tibial fracture, there is no evidence to support the long-term effectiveness of flap reconstruction over below-knee amputation. The aim of this study was to perform a decision analysis to evaluate treatment preferences for type IIIB and IIIC tibial fractures. Reconstructive microsurgeons, physical medicine physicians, and patients with lower extremity trauma completed a Web-based standard gamble utility survey to generate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Physicians assigned quite high utility values, and there was a slight preference for reconstruction over amputation, with a gain of only 0.55 QALY. Patients assigned significantly lower utility values and also favored reconstruction over amputation, but with a larger gain of 5.54 QALYs. The disparate utilities assigned by the physicians and the patients highlight the necessity of realistic discussion of outcomes, regardless of the management methods.

An economic analysis of hand transplantation in the United States

BACKGROUND

Hand transplantation has received international attention in recent years; however, the economic impact of this innovative treatment is uncertain. The aim of this study was to assess the utility and estimate the costs of hand transplantation and the use of hand prostheses for forearm amputations.

METHODS

One hundred medical students completed a time trade-off survey to assess the utilities of single and double hand transplantation and the use of hand prostheses. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated for each outcome to create decision trees. Cost data for medical care were estimated based on Medicare fee schedules using the Current Procedural Terminology code for forearm replantation. The cost of immunosuppressive therapy was estimated based on the wholesale price of drugs. The incremental cost-utility ratio was calculated from the differences in costs and utilities between transplantation and prosthesis. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the robustness of the results.

RESULTS

For unilateral hand amputation, prosthetic use was favored over hand transplantation (30.00 QALYs versus 28.81 QALYs; p = 0.03). Double hand transplantation was favored over the use of prostheses (26.73 QALYs versus 25.20 QALYs; p = 0.01). The incremental cost-utility ratio of double transplantation when compared with prostheses was $381,961/QALY, exceeding the traditionally accepted cost-effectiveness threshold of $50,000/QALY.

CONCLUSIONS

Prosthetic adaption is the dominant strategy for unilateral hand amputation. For bilateral hand amputation, double hand transplantation exceeds the societally acceptable threshold for general adoption. Improvements in immunosuppressive strategies may change the incremental cost-utility ratio for hand transplantation.

A cost-utility analysis of amputation versus salvage for Gustilo type IIIB and IIIC open tibial fractures

BACKGROUND

Lower extremity trauma is common. Despite an abundance of literature on severe injuries that can be treated with salvage or amputation, the appropriate management of these injuries remains uncertain. In this situation, a cost-utility analysis is an important tool in providing an evidence-based practice approach to guide treatment decisions.

METHODS

Costs following amputation and salvage were derived from data presented in a study that emerged from the Lower Extremity Assessment Project. The authors extracted relevant data on projected lifetime costs and analyzed them to include discounting and sensitivity analysis by considering patient age. The utilities for the various health states (amputation or salvage, including possible complications) were measured previously using the standard gamble method and a decision tree simulation to determine quality-adjusted life-years.

RESULTS

Amputation is more expensive than salvage, independently of varied ongoing prosthesis needs, discount rate, and patient age at presentation. Moreover, amputation yields fewer quality-adjusted life-years than salvage. Salvage is deemed the dominant, cost-saving strategy.

CONCLUSION

Unless the injury is so severe that salvage is not a possibility, based on this economic model, surgeons should consider limb salvage, which will yield lower costs and higher utility when compared with amputation.

Total wrist arthroplasty and total wrist arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis: a decision analysis from the hand surgeons' perspective

PURPOSE

Treatment of severely destroyed rheumatoid wrists with total wrist arthroplasty or total wrist arthrodesis relies on patient and surgeon preferences rather than rigorous prospective outcomes data. The purpose of this study is to develop a decision analytic model of arthroplasty and arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using utility values obtained from a random sample of hand surgeons.

METHODS

A utility survey using a time trade-off design was administered to 175 members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Based on the results of the survey, the utility values that surgeons assign to health states associated with arthroplasty and arthrodesis and their complications were calculated. By combining utility values with complication rates in the published literature, we developed a decision tree to calculate the expected quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for each procedure compared to living with a painful RA wrist.

RESULTS

Based on surgeon preferences, living for 30 years with a painful, poorly functioning RA wrist (utility = 0.54) is associated with 16.2 QALYs. Treatment with arthroplasty (utility = 0.85) is associated with 25.5 QALYs, a gain of 9.3 QALYs over nonsurgical management. Arthrodesis (utility = 0.82) is associated with 24.6 QALYs, a gain of 8.4 QALYs over nonsurgical management. Arthroplasty is associated with a small incremental increase in QALYs (0.9) compared to arthrodesis.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on utility scores, hand surgeons feel that living with a painful, poorly functioning RA wrist for 30 years is worth approximately half as many years with a painless, well-functioning wrist. The outcomes for arthroplasty and arthrodesis are valued more than nonsurgical management. On the basis of its higher expected gain in QALYs, arthroplasty should be the preferred treatment. The minimal increase in utility for arthroplasty over arthrodesis suggests however, that surgeons do not view arthroplasty as superior to arthrodesis.

TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Economic and decision analysis IV.