Facial Transplant, the Latest

Posting Date: 02/17/2004

Dr. Dean's comment...Here it is in case you really needed to know. Not at a store near you, yet.

FACIAL;TRANSPLANT

The first facial transplantation surgery should not be attempted, at least until further research has been performed to define the risks, concludes a special report in the Feb. 15 issue of Transplantation.

Transplant groups in several countries are reportedly ready to attempt facial transplantation from a cadaver donor to a patient with severe facial disfigurement. However, the report by a Working Party of the Royal College of Surgeons of England cites the lack of data on risks?including psychological as well as physical risks?as an obstacle to the procedure and recommends that the first facial transplantation surgery should not be attempted, at least until further research has been performed to define the risks. The working party report was triggered by British media reports speculating on the identity of the world's first face transplant recipient.

Interest in facial transplantation was spurred by progress in the transplantation of so-called "composite" tissues, such as hand transplantation. Facial transplantation would involve transplanting the face of a dead donor onto a recipient with severe facial disfigurement?for example, from severe burns. Although challenging, the techniques used would be similar to those already used in composite tissue transplantation.

Although the final appearance is difficult to predict, the facial transplant recipient would be unlikely to look like the donor. In all probability, the transplanted face would take on "more of the characteristics of the skeleton of the recipient than the soft tissues of the donor," the new report suggests. The authors of the report also cite a "reasonable expectation" that facial transplantation would improve the recipient's facial mobility, depending on the depth of pre-existing scarring.

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