Simultaneous face and hand transplant announced in the UK

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 23 2011

Following the first full face transplant in the U.S., one of the leading surgeons in the U.K. has announced that he’s preparing to carry out a the world’s second simultaneous face and hand transplant.

Dr. Peter Butler, director of surgery and trauma at the Royal Free Hospital in north London has been given the nod to perform a full face transplant in 2006, but he’s still waiting for a suitable donor match. In the meantime, a group of patients are undergoing psychological testing to see if they’re good candidates for the combined transplant.

The team consists of surgeons from Birmingham, Austria and in Pittsburgh, Pa. Butler said, “We have a number of patients that we have seen with combined face and hand injuries and a number are potentially going to be done… Some 60 hand transplants have been carried out worldwide but more work is needed to ensure the patients are suitable.” So far, there have been only about a dozen face transplants and even fewer double hand transplants. In April 2009, surgeons in France performed the world's first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant on a 30-year-old burn victim. He died of a heart attack a few months later.