A Lifesaving View of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation: Patient Experience of Social Death Before and After Face, Hand, and Larynx Transplant.

By including social death as a patient inclusion criterion for face, hand, and larynx VCA, these transplants can be considered lifesaving. Additionally, because VCA requires lifelong immunosuppressant medication, considering VCA as a lifesaving intervention improves the technology's risk-benefit analysis. Guidance for assessing social death is provided.