{"id":111856,"date":"2016-09-06T19:41:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T19:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/woman-who-received-worlds-first-face-transplant-dies\/"},"modified":"2016-09-06T19:41:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T19:41:12","slug":"woman-who-received-worlds-first-face-transplant-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/woman-who-received-worlds-first-face-transplant-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who received world’s first face transplant dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS<\/span>\u00a0Isabelle Dinoire, a Frenchwoman who received the world\u2019s first partial face transplant<\/a><\/span>, has died 11 years after the surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants worldwide. She was 49.<\/p>\n

The Amiens University Hospital in northern France said in a statement Tuesday that Dinoire died in April after a long illness. The hospital didn\u2019t release any further details and it wasn\u2019t clear if her illness was related to the transplant.<\/p>\n

Her family wanted her death kept private. But the hospital went public with the death after the French newspaper\u00a0Le Figaro reported on it.<\/p>\n

After being severely disfigured by her pet Labrador, Dinoire was given a new nose, chin and lips in a ground-breaking, 15-hour operation in 2005 led by doctors Bernard Devauchelle and Jean-Michel Dubernard in the Amiens hospital. When she first appeared in public with her new face four months later, her speech was slurred and a scar clearly visible — but the fact that she could speak to reporters of having a \u201cface like everyone else\u201d and almost smile was seen as a medical breakthrough.<\/p>\n

The operation changed Dinoire\u2019s life and drew international attention. There have been nearly 40 face transplant<\/a><\/span>? surgeries around the world since 2005.<\/p>\n

\"Amazing<\/span>
\n

Amazing face transplants (GRAPHIC IMAGES)<\/h3>\n

\n Doctors around world have made stunning transformations for disfigured\n <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

However, medications that patients must take to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organs can cause other illnesses and have severe side effects. Le Figaro, which first reported Dinoire\u2019s death Tuesday, said she had suffered two cancers linked to the transplant and lost partial use of her transplanted lips last year.<\/p>\n

Dinoire, a divorced mother of two teenage daughters, said she was wrestling with personal problems at the time of the 2005 dog attack and \u201ctook some drugs to forget.\u201d She said she was passed out when the dog bit her.<\/p>\n

Disabled by her disfigurement, she welcomed the opportunity for a transplant from a brain-dead woman. Her doctors said they repeatedly warned her of the risks involved.<\/p>\n

Her operation was \u201can unquestionable surgical success\u201d and the medical community learned from her experience, said Dr. Jean-Paul Meningaud, who heads the reconstructive surgery department at the Henri Mondor Hospital south of Paris and wasn\u2019t involved in treating Dinoire.<\/p>\n

But Meningaud, who has been involved in seven of France\u2019s 10 face transplants, is now arguing for suspending the procedures so that the medical community can take stock of whether the long-term benefits are worth the physical and psychological toll they take on patients.<\/p>\n

In Dinoire\u2019s case, \u201cThe results were very good in the medium term, but the long-term results were not so good,\u201d Meningaud said.<\/p>\n

He said that face transplant recipients are having more difficulty with anti-rejection medication than doctors initially predicted, and are requiring more follow-up surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rather high price to pay for the patient. It\u2019s time to mark a pause,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Her immune system nearly rejected the transplant twice. A year later, doctors said she was gaining more and more sensitivity and facial mobility, and she got herself a new dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can open my mouth and eat. I feel my lips, my nose and my mouth,\u201d Dinoire said at a news conference in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a face like everyone else,\u201d she said. \u201cA door to the future is opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The procedure\u00a0Dinoire received set the precedent for countless other facial transplants, including\u00a0Mississippi firefighter Pat Hardison\u2019s procedure, which has been called the \u201cmost extensive\u201d face transplant<\/a><\/span>? ever. In 2001,\u00a0when Hardison was 27, the roof of a burning house collapsed on top of him, leaving his face severely disfigured.<\/p>\n

\"Face<\/span>
\n CBS Evening News<\/span><\/p>\n

Face transplant recipient thriving one year after surgery<\/h3>\n

\n Mississippi firefighter Patrick Hardison’s life changed in 2001 when the roof of a burning house collapsed on him. For 14 years, he battled pain,…\n <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In\u00a0August of 2015, doctors at New York University\u2019s\u00a0Langone Medical Center\u00a0transplanted the\u00a0face and scalp\u00a0from a deceased donor\u00a0onto Hardison\u2019s head.\u00a0The surgery, which was the first\u00a0to include a scalp and functioning eyelids,\u00a0lasted 26 hours, and Hardison was only given a 50 percent chance of surviving.<\/p>\n

But he did survive and his life has been transformed.<\/p>\n

In an interview last month<\/a><\/span>?\u00a0with CBS News\u2019 chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook,\u00a0Hardison said that\u00a0now —\u00a0a year later — he\u2019s \u201cjust the average guy walking down the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople —\u00a0they can look at me and tell something\u2019s happened, but they would never look at me and think that I\u2019d had a face transplant,\u201d\u00a0Hardison said. \u201cNormal has become a reality over the year.\u00a0Normal was something I never thought I\u2019d see again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS\u00a0Isabelle Dinoire, a Frenchwoman who received the world\u2019s first partial face transplant, has died 11 years after the surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants worldwide. She was 49. The Amiens University Hospital in northern France said in a statement Tuesday that Dinoire died in April after a long illness. The hospital Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}