Doctors in Spain early Wednesday successfully completed the country's first face transplant and only the eighth such operation to have been carried out worldwide, the health ministry said.
A 43-year-old man received a new face from a 35-year-old man who died in a traffic accident in the operation at the Hospital La Fe in the eastern city of Valencia which lasted 15 and a half hours and involved more than 30 medics, it said in a statement.''The patient is progressing nicely although we will have to wait 24 or 48 hours to see how he reacts,'' the head of healthcare in the Valencian regional government, Manuel Cervera, told a news conference.
The identity of the recipient was not officially disclosed but local newspaper Levante-EMV said he was from Spain's Canary Islands and had suffered a serious facial injury.
The first successful face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled by her dog.
French Surgeon Performs World's Fifth Face Transplant
A 28-year-old man has received a face transplant at a hospital outside Paris, the doctor who performed the surgery told AFP Friday.
A 28-year-old man has received a face transplant at a hospital outside Paris, the doctor who performed the surgery told AFP Friday.
Rafael Matesanz, the director of Spain's National Transplant Organisation which gave the green light for the procedure in June, said the operation was a ''very important milestone for Spanish medicine''.
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French Surgeons Perform World's First Hands, Face Transplant
In a world first, French surgeons replaced in a single operation the face and both hands of a man horribly disfigured by an accident, the hospital where the surgery took place announced Monday.
In a world first, French surgeons replaced in a single operation the face and both hands of a man horribly disfigured by an accident, the hospital where the surgery took place announced Monday.
Source-AFP
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