Study: Five-Year Survival for Face Transplant Is 85 Percent

TUESDAY, Sept. 24, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The overall survival for face transplants is encouraging, with 10-year survival at 74 percent, according to a study published online Sept. 18 in JAMA Surgery.

Pauliina Homsy, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Helsinki, and colleagues examined the overall survival of the first 50 face transplants in the world (18 centers in 11 countries; 2005 to 2023). 

The researchers reported that transplants were performed on 39 men (81 percent) and nine women (19 percent) with a median age of 35 years (range, 19 to 68 years) at the time of the transplant. During a median follow-up of 8.9 years, six transplants were lost, with two patients retransplanted. Ten patients died, two of whom had lost a transplant. The five-year survival of transplants was 85 percent, and 10-year survival of the transplants was 74 percent. Survival was significantly predicted by the sequential number of the transplant in the world. For the transplants that were lost, the median number of acute rejection episodes per year was 1.2 compared with 0.7 for the transplants that survived. There was no correlation with patient and transplant variables for either transplant survival or the number of rejection episodes. 

“These data suggest that the acceptable long-term survival of face transplants makes them a reconstructive option for extensive facial defects,” the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to industry.

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