? This is an application for partial funding of the """"""""First American Conference on Reconstructive Transplant Surgery (ACRTS): Exploring the new era of Composite Tissue Allotransplantation (CTA)"""""""", a two day meeting with didactic, panel and submitted paper sessions intended to provide plastic, reconstructive and transplant surgeons, immunologists, psychiatrists and other allied health professionals in these fields with: 1) Overview of the current status in hand and face transplantation 2) Understanding of appropriate immunosuppressive treatment in Composite Tissue Allotransplantation 3) Insight into strategies for induction of tolerance towards an allograft 4) Guidance on how to establish a hand or face transplant program 5) Knowledge of potential future applications of Reconstructive Transplant Surgery The invited course faculty members are international experts in this field with first hand knowledge in reconstructive transplant surgery and composite tissue allotransplantation. It is the purpose of this meeting to provide the participant with the very latest achievements in transplant immunology and with strategies that have been used successfully to minimize long-term immunosuppressive treatment after organ transplantation. As the side effects related to conventional immunosuppression currently represent the major limiting factor for wide spread use of Composite Tissue Allotransplantation, the successful implementation of such strategies in CTA would result in a major breakthrough in this field. As we anticipate this to be realized within the next years, a second focus of this conference is to discuss the large variety of indications for CTA. Questions to be addressed include but are not limited to: """""""" CTA for reconstruction after tumor dissection """""""" CTA for reconstruction in inborn deformities """""""" Arm transplantation """""""" CTA for reconstruction of defects in body part other than hand and face As a third objective, this conference provides an educational objective to physicians that are intending to launch a CTA program and aims for intensification of the communication and exchange between participating centers. After solid organ transplantation has become a routine treatment for organ failure, the next frontier in this field is the transplantation of """"""""composite tissue"""""""" like the hand or the face in order to serve the unmet need for major tissue reconstruction. In this meeting, we bring together the leaders of both reconstructive surgery and transplant immunology in order to foster the interaction between these two specialties and to promote the implementation of the progress achieved in transplantation into Composite Tissue Allotransplantation in order to enable wide spread application of this novel treatment. ? ? ? ?
