Spanish Hospital Conducts World’s First Successful Complex Face Transplant

A Spanish hospital said Monday it has successfully carried out the world’s most complex face transplant, reconstructing the lower face, neck, mouth, tongue and back of the throat of a man terribly disfigured by disease.

A team of 45 physicians, nurses, anaesthesiologists and other health professionals carried out the 27-hour operation in early February at Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the hospital said in a statement.

“This is the first time that a transplant of this complexity is performed in the world,” the statement said.

“The patient evolution after the surgery was successful, similar to any transplant patient at the hospital. Now he is already at home and only comes to the hospital to do routine checkups.”

The patient, a 45-year-old man who does not wish to be identified, had suffered a condition called arteriovenous malformation for the past 20 years, causing a massive deformation of his tissues. (Read more from “Spanish Hospital Conducts Complex Face Transplant” HERE)

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