Simultaneous Partial-Face, Double-Hand Transplant a First: Report

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The world's first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant was performed in France over the weekend.

Dozens of doctors worked in teams for 30 hours on a 30-year-old male patient whose burn scars from a 2004 accident prevented him from having any social life, Paris' Public Hospital System said Monday, the Associated Press reported.

The operation was the world's sixth partial-face transplant but the first to include hands as well. It was performed at the Henri Mondor Hospital in the Paris suburb of Creteil. The transplanted organs came from a brain-dead patient.

The first part of the operation involved transplantation of the upper half of the face, including the scalp, forehead, nose, ears and upper and lower eyelids, the AP reported. A new set of hands were then attached above the wrist. All relevant arteries, veins, nerves and tendons were successfully reconnected by the surgeons, the hospital authority said.