Combined Whole Eye and Face Transplant: Microsurgical Strategy and 1-Year Clinical Course.

Abstract

Importance: Catastrophic facial injury with globe loss remains a formidable clinical problem with no previous reports of reconstruction by whole eye or combined whole eye and facial transplant.

Objective: To develop a microsurgical strategy for combined whole eye and facial transplant and describe the clinical findings during the first year following transplant.

Design, setting, and participant: A 46-year-old man who sustained a high-voltage electrical injury with catastrophic tissue loss to his face and left globe underwent combined whole eye and face transplant using personalized surgical devices and a novel microsurgical strategy at a specialized center for vascularized composite allotransplantation.

Main outcomes and measures: Reperfusion and viability of the whole eye and facial allografts, retinal function, and incidence of acute rejection.

Results: The patient underwent a combined whole eye and face transplant from an immunologically compatible donor with primary optic nerve coaptation and conventional postoperative immunosuppression. Globe and retinal perfusion were maintained throughout the immediate postoperative period, evidenced by fluorescein angiography. Optical coherence tomography demonstrated atrophy of inner retinal layers and attenuation and disruption of the ellipsoid zone. Serial electroretinography confirmed retinal responses to light in the transplanted eye. Using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, the integrity of the transplanted visual pathways and potential occipital cortical response to light stimulation of the transplanted eye was demonstrated. At 1 year post transplant (postoperative day 366), there was no perception of light in the transplanted eye.

Conclusions and relevance: This is the first report of whole eye transplant combined with facial transplant, demonstrating allograft survival including rejection-free graft survival and electroretinographic measurements indicating retinal response to light stimuli. These data highlight the potential for clinical allotransplantation for globe loss.