Ethics Of Face Surgery Questioned

Doctor Says Face Transplant Violated Advice Of French Ethics Panel

(CBS/AP) 
Doctors stress the woman will not look like her donor, but nor will she look like she did before the attack - instead she will have a "hybrid" face, the BBC reports.

But "we still don't know when the patient will get out," Dubernard said. He refused to give any other details, saying they would have to wait until a Friday news conference.

Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants in the past. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.

The face transplant patient was to have a second experimental treatment today, an infusion of the donor's bone marrow, to try to prevent rejection of the new tissue.

"Maybe Jean-Michel Dubernard is revolutionizing the concept of transplantation," Lantieri said, but added that the patient now was being subjected to two untested treatments.

Lantieri, who developed his own plans to attempt a partial face transplant, said members of Dubernard's team contacted him last spring, seeking details of his protocol.

He saw a photograph of the victim, whose injury was unusually severe. He also said that a surgeon in Lille, France, where the transplant donor lived, had reviewed the woman's record and told him he was concerned about the circumstances of her injury. It involved one or two dogs, Lantieri said.

In the United States, surgeons and psychologists at two medical centers that hope to offer face transplants, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Louisville, declined to comment Thursday on the French case.