French hospital performs first hands and face transplant

A 30-year old man who was badly burned in a 2004 accident has become the first recipient of a simultaneous transplant of his face and both hands. A 40-strong team took 30 hours to perform the revolutionary surgery over the weekend.In a world first, French surgeons replaced in a single operation the face and both hands of a man horribly disfigured by an accident, the hospital where the surgery took place announced Monday.The 30-year-old recipient, on a donor waiting list for more a year, "had scars from burns to the face and hands so severe that it robbed him of all social life," the hospital said in a statement.The operation, which began Saturday night, lasted 30 hours and required a medical team of more than 40, according to the Henri Mondor Hospital in Creteil, a suburb southeast of Paris."It is a success, he is in good condition," one of the two head surgeons, Laurent Lanteiri, told AFP. "The patient is in post-op intensive care, which will last at least 15 days."Surgeons replaced the patient's entire face above the lips, including the scalp, nose, ears and forehead."Everything was reconnected -- the nerves, tendons, arteries and veins," said Lantieri, who performed the face transplant.Another team led by Christian Dumontier, a surgeon at the Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris, replaced both hands, including the wrists.Doctors also succeeded in grafting new upper and lower eyelids -- a world first."We will have to wait and see whether the nerves will grow back and give them mobility," he said.