Saving face: Spanish hospital performs world's most complex ‘face transplant’

A hospital in Barcelona claimed that they have performed successful the most complex "face transplant" to a 45-year patient who got a deformity due to a severe disease.

According to RT, a recently released statement said that a team of 45 medical professionals (nurses, physicians, anesthesiologists among others) performed the 27-hour long operation at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital back in February. The surgery is said to have intensive reconstruction of the patient's lower face area, neck, mouth, tongue and pharynx.

"This is the first time that a transplant of this complexity is performed in the world. 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 statement said via Yahoo News.

The patient (who does not want to be identified) is said to be suffering from massive tissue deformation due to a disease called arteriovenous malformation which happened because of an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system.

Aside from the deformed tissues, arteriovenous malformation can cause other symptoms like intense pain or bleeding. Further complications might also happen to the patient's body who experienced this kind of disease.

Upon diagnosis, the hospital described the disease as life-threatening. In the statement, it said, "The patient, due to the evolution of his illness, had important functional alterations, such a vision and speech problems, and the risk of severe bleeding that put his life in danger."

A report from Expatica said that the patient had tried consultations with other formidable hospitals like the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School in the United States. However, the said medical centers refused to treat his condition and considered it as inoperable.

It is only the Barcelona hospital that gave hope to the patient's condition.

In 2010, the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in 2010 had also performed the world's first ever full face transplant to a man who suffered an accident. The man is said to have lost his nose and get his jaw and cheekbones in bad form before the surgery.