1st US face transplant performed

A woman so horribly disfigured she was willing to risk her life to do something about it has undergone the first near-total face transplant in the US, the Cleveland Clinic announced on Tuesday.

Reconstructive surgeon Doctor Maria Siemionow and a team of other specialists replaced 80 percent of the woman's face with that of a female cadaver a couple of weeks ago in a bold and controversial operation certain to stoke the debate over the ethics of such surgery.

The patient's name and age were not released, and the hospital said her family wanted the reason for her transplant to remain confidential.

The transplant was the fourth worldwide; two have been done in France, and one was performed in China.

Surgeons not connected to the Cleveland case reacted cautiously since little is known about the circumstances, but generally praised the operation.

Unlike operations involving vital organs like hearts and livers, transplants of faces or hands are done to improve quality of life - not extend it. Recipients run the risk of deadly complications and must take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent organ rejection, raising their odds of cancer and many other problems.

Arthur Caplan, a leading bioethicist who has expressed grave concerns in the past about such surgery, said the woman's doctors should give her the option of assisted suicide if they wind up making her life worse.

Agencies

(China Daily 12/18/2008 page12)