Implementation of vascularized composite allografts in the United States: recommendations from the ASTS VCA Ad Hoc Committee and the Executive Committee

Like all other areas of transplantation, vascularized composite allografts (VCA) has the capacity to transform the lives of patients, for the better or for the worse. It is this duality that mandates VCA be performed in centers prepared for the intricacies accompanying other transplant procedures. Similarly, the complexities of VCA require that the procedures be driven by surgeons and physicians with experience in the multidisciplinary management of immunocompromised postsurgical patients. Furthermore, the grafts should be considered as organs rather than tissues from a regulatory and a biological standpoint. The ASTS supports the field of VCA and has demonstrated its support and leadership by actively formulating a strategy for its systematic development. The goal of this document is to provide a framework for the prospective, thoughtful realization of VCA in the United States from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) perspective.