Doctors at the medical center in Gliwice, southern Poland, announced on Wednesday that they performed world’s first emergency face transplant surgery carried out in order to save the life of a patient (scroll down for video).
Computerized tomography courtesy of the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, Poland, shows the skull of a 33-year-old Polish man after it was damaged in a work accident, right, alongside the healthy skull of another person.
“This is the first full face transplant of its kind made in Poland and in the world and the emergency procedure was necessary for saving the patient’s life,” said Anna Uryga, spokesperson at the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice.
On April 23, a 33-year-old man named Grzegorz, was left without a large part of his face during an accident caused by stone cutting machine. A first attempt failed to reconstruct the his facial traits, instead it was able to save his vision and the lower part of his face. Man’s life was still in danger because of the extent and the depth of the injury, said Ms Uryga.
World’s quickest face transplant on record was performed in Poland (Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology/AP Photo)
After seven days, “his condition still remains serious, because the intervention was extremely difficult,” said the doctor, adding that the patient “breathes independently. He does not talk, but communicates through movements of his head and hands.”
According to the doctor, “the patient can eat, breathe and see. Than eight months should regain traction across the face.”
Gliwice facial transplant emerged seven and a half years after the world’s first face grafting came out successful on November 27, 2005 in a hospital from Amiens, France.
Warning: The video below may be disturbing for some people
Polish man gets face transplant in life saving surgery in Gliwice
