Análise bioética do transplante de face no Brasil / Bioethical analysis of face transplantation in Brazil

INTRODUÇÃO: Atualização sobre os aspectos bioéticos do transplante facial. Estudo de revisão da literatura sobre a situação atual dos transplantes de órgãos e de face, a importância da face humana, e a face humana como órgão vital. MÉTODOS: Revisão bibliográfica narrativa com análise documental acerca dos transplantes de face nos últimos 10 anos. RESULTADOS: Na base de dados PubMed foram encontradas 8259 publicações com a palavra-chave em face transplantation, face transplantation and bioethics em 28 artigos e em organ transplant ethics em em 4877 publicações; documentos relacionados à legislação encontrados na ABTO (Associação Brasileira de Transplantes de Órgãos). CONCLUSÃO: A experiência dos países com o transplante de face demonstrou que é uma opção viável para reconstrução de graves lesões faciais, entretanto, é considerado um procedimento experimental com alto risco de complicações, altos custos, envolve equipe multidisciplinar e a necessidade do uso vitalício de imunossupressores. Até o momento, é indicado para um pequeno grupo de pacientes. Do ponto de vista bioético, vale contextualizar que, apesar da obtenção do termo de consentimento, é necessário avaliar qual é o nível de risco aceitável para o participante da pesquisa. Quem será o responsável pelos custos relacionados ao procedimento? Quando os recursos públicos podem ser utilizados para justificar os direitos individuais em detrimento dos direitos públicos?

INTRODUCTION: This update on bioethical aspects of face transplantation reviews the literature on the current status of organ and face transplantation, the significance of the human face, and the human face as a vital organ. METHODS: This was a narrative bibliographic review, with documentary analysis of face transplantation in the last 10 years. RESULTS: A search of the PubMed database identified 8,259 papers with the keyword face transplantation, 28 articles with the keywords face transplantation and bioethics, and 4,877 papers with the keyword organ transplant ethics; documents related to legislation were found in the Brazilian Association of Organ Transplantation (Associação Brasileira de Transplantes de Órgãos - ABTO). CONCLUSION: The experience of countries where face transplantation has been performed has shown that this is a viable option for the reconstruction of severe facial lesions. However, face transplantation is considered an experimental procedure with high risk of complications and costs, and requires a multidisciplinary team and the lifetime use of immunosuppressants. To date, this procedure is only indicated for a small group of patients. From a bioethics standpoint, it should be noted that, despite providing consent, the level of risk acceptable to the recipient must be assessed. Who will be responsible for the costs related to the procedure? When can public resources be used to justify individual rights over public rights?

Current Status of Face Transplantation: Where Do We Stand in Korea?

The world's first face transplantation was performed in France, in 2005. Since then, 21 cases of face transplantation have been performed. Face transplantation is one of the most prominent part of composite tissue allotransplantation (CTA) along with hand transplantation. Since these fields are not deal with life-saving organs, there are many arguments about immunosuppression therapy. Recent paradigm of face transplantation shows that surgical ranges are expanded from partial face transplantation to full face transplantation. Most immunosuppression protocols are triple therapy, which consists of tacrolimus (FK-506), mycophenolate mofetil and prednisolone. Anatomical researches, immunosuppression, and immunotolerance take great parts in the researches of CTA. The medical fields directly related to face transplantation are microsurgery, immunology, and transplantation. Nowadays, each field is performed widely. Therefore people, even medical teams think face transplantation could be easily realized, sooner or later. But there are lots of things that should be prepared for not only practice and immunosuppression therapy but also for the cooperation with relevant fields. That's the reason why only 21 cases of face transplantation have been done, while more than 70 cases of hand transplantation have been done in the past years. Especially in Korea, brain death patients are not enough even for organ transplantation and furthermore there are some troubles in taking part in the society of transplantation. Face transplantation has lots of problems concerning variable medical fields, administration, society, ethics, and laws. Therefore, for the realization of face transplantation in Korea, not only medical skills but also political powers are needed.