L. Scott Levin, M.D., F.A.C.S., is the recipient of the 2022 Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for establishing and evolving orthoplastic surgery and reconstructive microsurgery’s approaches to the care of serious extremity injuries.
L. Scott Levin Wins AAOS Kappa Delta Award
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The Kappa Delta award is administered by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). One of the most prestigious awards in orthopedics, it recognizes those who have made significant advances in research that have the potential to significantly improve patient care.
Dr. Levin is the Paul B. Magnuson Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and a professor of Surgery in Plastic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Levin summarized his work in a paper that explains how microsurgery and orthoplastic surgery have evolved over the years and moved the field of extremity repair forward. In his paper, Dr. Levin discussed the “microsurgery ladder” that he first wrote about in 1993, which became a guide for microsurgical techniques for all orthopedic conditions. This guide covers everything from replantation (reattaching a person’s own body part) to vascularized composite allotransplantation (the transfer of a part of one person’s body to another’s).
Dr. Levin’s paper also discussed the origins and evolution of orthoplastic surgery, his contributions to the field, and new developments in the field—he wrote, “work in vascularized elbow transplantation is proving promising for eventual use in young patients who have suffered trauma to that part of their arm.”
OTW spoke to Dr. Levin about what this award means to him and his goals for the upcoming year. Dr. Levin told us, “Receiving this award recognizes the valuable role that reconstructive microsurgery plays in the care of patients with musculoskeletal disease and validates the orthoplastic approach to extremity reconstruction that can optimize patient care, improve functional outcomes in patients with threatened limbs or upper extremity amputations, and decrease healthcare costs.”
Dr. Levin continued, “The goal for the next year is to successfully perform another bilateral forearm transplantation in a patient who is on our waiting list, bring to fruition our basic science research by listing our first patient for a vascularized composite elbow allotransplantation, and to continue our experimental work on ex-vivo limb perfusion that improves care of patients needing replantation or vascularized composite allotransplantation. This would also optimize reconstruction for our wounded warriors that sustain limb loss due to battlefield injuries.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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