BOSTON -- It made history overseas and now a very controversial medical procedure is coming to a Boston hospital.
Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital is about to start performing face transplants and will be the first U.S. hospital to do so.
The hospital said the operation is only for people who have severe facial disfiguration. It was first performed in 2005 for a French woman named Isabelle Dinoire, 38, who underwent the procedure after she was mauled by her Labrador retriever dog. She received a new chin, nose and lips. The tissues were transplanted from a woman who was brain dead after committing suicide.
Now, Brigham & Women's is the first hospital in the United States to receive permission from the New England Organ Bank. It will only consider candidates who have been severely disfigured by facial burns, trauma or skin cancer. To be eligible, they must already be kidney transplant patients because they are already on medication to prevent organ rejections.
Some critics question face transplants are unethical because there is a risk to a patients life for an operation that is not life-saving.
Hub Hospital First In U.S. To Perform Face Transplants - Health News Story - WCVB Boston
Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital is about to start performing face transplants and will be the first U.S. hospital to do so.
The hospital said the operation is only for people who have severe facial disfiguration. It was first performed in 2005 for a French woman named Isabelle Dinoire, 38, who underwent the procedure after she was mauled by her Labrador retriever dog. She received a new chin, nose and lips. The tissues were transplanted from a woman who was brain dead after committing suicide.
Now, Brigham & Women's is the first hospital in the United States to receive permission from the New England Organ Bank. It will only consider candidates who have been severely disfigured by facial burns, trauma or skin cancer. To be eligible, they must already be kidney transplant patients because they are already on medication to prevent organ rejections.
Some critics question face transplants are unethical because there is a risk to a patients life for an operation that is not life-saving.
Hub Hospital First In U.S. To Perform Face Transplants - Health News Story - WCVB Boston
