Full face transplant ‘success’
April 23, 2010
Full face transplant ‘success’
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Doctors say scars will be concealed
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A team of 30 Spanish doctors say they have successfully performed the world’s first full face transplant.
A man injured in a shooting accident received the entire facial skin and muscles – including cheekbones, nose, lips and teeth – of a donor.
The man is recovering well after the 22-hour operation, said a spokesperson from Vall d’Hebron University Hospital.
Another 10 face transplants have been carried out around the world, but this is believed to be the most complex.
Hospital spokesperson Bianca Bont told the BBC: “This is the first total face transplant.
“There have been 10 operations of this kind in the world – this is the first to transplant all of the face and some bones of the face.”
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Face transplants
Face from dead donor is removed in four hour operation
Veins, arteries, skin, muscles, and bones are taken
The patient is anaesthetised partway through surgery on the donor and any previous skin grafts are removed
The donor face and accompanying blood vessels are stitched to the patient using complex microvascular surgery
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The man was operated on in March, but details of the operation have only just been revealed.
He had been left unable to breathe, swallow, or talk properly after an accident five years ago.
He was considered for a full face transplant after nine previous operations failed.
A team of 30 experts carried out the operation on 20 March at the hospital in Barcelona.
The man has since seen himself in the mirror and was calm and satisfied, the leader of the medical team, Joan Pere Barret, told a news conference.
‘Achievement’
The first partial face transplant was carried out by doctors in Amiens, France, in 2005.
Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled by her dog, received a new nose, chin and lips.
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Doctors revealed details at a news conference Hospital)
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Since then partial face transplants have been carried out in China and the US.
British experts say the Spanish operation may be the most complex yet.
It appears to include more bone and much more of the lower part of the face.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Facial Transplantation Research Team, which has ethical permission to carry out a full face transplant, said it was “a tremendous achievement”.
“This appears to be the most complex facial transplant operation carried out so far worldwide,” he said.
“It once again shows how facial transplantation can help a small number of people who are the most severely facially injured and for whom reconstructive surgery cannot and has not worked.”
2. Donor’s facial skin, muscles, nose, cheekbones, teeth and jawbone used to rebuild patient’s face. Metal plates used to support new facial structure, which included reconstructing the roof of the mouth.
3. Donor’s nerves, blood vessels and skin connected to patient. Patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life.
Source: Vall D’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona
Still here?
May 26, 2008
Hi guys, I guess the onus is on me to try and stir some life back into this thing.
It seems as though everyone has drifted apart a little over the last few weeks. Well I guess that isn’t entirely true as myself and Anne Marie still manage to chat once a day usually and going by all the mushy luvy stuff being typed into Skype announcement messages, I think it’d be a safe bet to say that Ash and Netty are still chatting to each other.
Dave has been around and I have chatted with him on several ocassions, usually at the weekends, he is off to China tomorrow for a couple of weeks so he’ll not be around too much for a while. have a good one Dave, I for one am very jealous.
Larry seems to have been dodging tornadoes since New Year and has also been swallowed up by online galaxy conquering in its various guises, Ogame and EveOnline is where my money is. Gopher is on and off rarely these days it seems.. That man is much too sober for my liking these days.
It happens, we have all seen it before, you find a new web site you chat away find a new group and after a while you move on. Hopefully we will all still keep the Jokers bookmarked and maybe for once we can buck the trend and stay in touch through the website and blogs. What I was considering was writing a monthly newsletter so at the least we’d all recieve a bit of news, a touchstone so to speak that would ensure that we never quite lost touch completely, yanno what I mean?
Besides I can’t lose touch completely with you guys.. I mean who are Anne Marie and myself gonna bum off if we ever get over the pond to do some serious Las Vegas-ing? And Ash and Netty gotta stay in touch with us so they know where to send the wedding invites, right? Gopher has to stay in touch, one because Fridays ain’t Fridays without our personal tipsy Scotsman and two because I still hold out a sliver of hope that he’ll actually pay me for a PC he had 2 years ago.. lol (fat chance)
Poker has really not been an issue for me last couple of months. I’m having far more fun playing backgammon and dominoes lol sad innit.. I don’t consider poker most nights and certainly do not fret about thinking I ‘have’ to play.
I did build myself a new website and had it 90% finished and then in a fit of pique one day (caused by yet another upgrade) I just took it down again. I had filled the site with news and videos and articles and all that kind of stuff. Then I sat back and thought about it and realised I was filling the site up, padding it with things just for the sake of it. I should just build the site around the things I enjoy doing and forget trying to please everyone all the time. So that is what I am going to be doing.
It’ll be a site basically split into a few areas, mostly graphics and art and maybe an opinion area for politics and current affairs. Weird mix maybe but that is what I enjoy online.
Actually I think I will play poker again real soon, I can feel the itch starting up. Maybe that is what was required, for me to stop fretting about it, forget about it for a while and sooner or later the itch would return of its own accord. I’ll keep you all updated on that one for sure. 
Anyhow before I go on too much, I hope you are all having fun whatever you are doing and hopefully we’ll hook up a game together one night in the not so distant future.
Till then .. toodle pip!
The Nigh is End?
April 18, 2008
Well it took some time and effort for me to prise open the cover of this particular book. I had to soak the hinges overnight in ‘3in1’ and still ended up jumping up and down on the jemmy before the cover would budge. Was it really that long ago since I last updated the blog? Hell yeah…!
So.. personal life aside what about poker and more specifically my poker exploits? As I mentioned in a comment on SvcMgr’s latest blog entry, I have been mostly if not totally poker inactive for the year so far. Read more
Guess it is back to Poker then?
February 12, 2008
Phew been a long on/off affair involving building and rebuilding websites. Finally we have something tangible on the SuitedJokers website.
It is still early days, but we have a private forum running and the ‘Journal’ is up and running also. You can read all about forum by clicking on the tab at the top of the page, it is the one labeled ‘forum’. doh! Read more
The Best Laid Plans of Mice & Men
January 12, 2008
“The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry”, a commonly used quote from the poem “To a Mouse” written by Robert Burns. Frequently used because of its prophetic accuracy and I’m using it as the title for this the first blog entry of 2008, for exactly that reason.
I set some targets at the beginning of the year, things I was to strive for in my (online) poker life. Nothing unrealistic, quite attainable with some application and discipline. To be in profit by $5k at the end of the year. Indeed I had achieved almost 25% of my target by the end of January and then as often happens, real life reared its ugly head and like so many men and mice before me, my plans went awry…. Read more
That time of year again.. humbug..
December 15, 2007
Lazy Winter Sundays’ …
It’s what winter Sunday’s are for isn’t it? Lazing around, open newspapers on the lounge coffee table, this morning’s breakfast dishes still piled up in the kitchen. Slopping about in sweats not really dressed, hair un-brushed and still magnificently vertical.
Warm cooking smells coming from the kitchen, some old black & white movie running unwatched on the TV. A pile of clothes washing sitting in the basket by the washing machine, waiting for someone (me) to make the supreme sacrifice of donating 5 minutes of their Sunday afternoon, spent in pushing said clothes into the machine closing the door and hitting the run switch.. hmm.. nope still can’t gather the energy for that one yet.
My arse is somehow magically glued to my computer chair and unless there is a sudden potentially fatal ‘cup-of-tea’ shortage it is going to remain glued until at least.. oh I dunno.. at the earliest dinner time I reckon.
.. Winter Sunday’s rock. 
…. Read more
