French doctors performed the world's first facial transplant Tuesday, on a woman who was disfigured by a dog attack. The high-risk operation has raised a storm of ethical questions and garnered guarded praise. Doctors have performed the world's first partial face transplant, grafting a nose, lips and chin onto a 38-year-old woman disfigured by a dog attack, French hospitals said Wednesday.
The surgery was performed Sunday in Amiens, northern France, according to a joint statement from the Amiens hospital and another in the southern city of Lyon, whose doctors worked together.
"The patient's general condition is excellent and the transplant looks normal," the statement said. It said the woman wants to remain anonymous. The donor, a woman, was brain dead, and her family consented to the surgery, the statement said.
Dr. Jean-Michel Dubernard, one of the surgeons, said the operation was the world's first of its kind and he confirmed that it included the nose, lips and chin.
But "we still don't know when the patient will get out," he said.
He refused to give other details before a news conference planned for Friday.
Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants but a mouth and nose transplant would be a first. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the &to=http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/379/15530_face.html' target=_blank>face to transplant, repoets Miami Herald.
"She could be back to square one without a face," Dr. Hutchison said.
The donor's family also must face issues, he said. The transplant material was removed while the donor's body was kept alive and "one can never be 100% sure that the person might not have survived."
The Royal College of Surgeons of England greeted the news with caution. "If successful, this is a major breakthrough in facial reconstruction," said spokesman Michael Earley, M.D., a plastic surgeon and a member of the college's working group on facial transplantation.
But he added that "the first few days are critical from the viewpoint of possible technical failure."
If technical skill was needed, however, the French patient was in good hands. Dr. Dubernard is associated with a series of medical firsts, including Europe's first pancreas transplant in 1976, informs MedPage Today.
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