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In a first Canadian issue, surgeons at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal announced Wednesday that they had performed a facial transplant, giving a severely disfigured Quebecer a second chance.
Hospital officials described in detail the complex and risky 30-hour procedure of Maurice Desjardins last May. At 64, he has been described as the oldest transplant recipient in the world.
A team led by plastic surgeon Daniel Borsuk participated in the first Canadian surgical attempt, which has been performed around 40 times worldwide since 2005.
Borsuk said that there was no other option for Desjardins, who was living in constant suffering and isolation despite five reconstructive surgeries since a 2011 hunting accident. left without jaw, nose and teeth.
"Imagine when you suffer silently at home for years and you do not leave your home as much as you want and sleep in a separate room because of the sound of the trachea tracheostomy," said Borsuk , who also teaches at the Université de Montréal.
"You live this life very difficult, so overnight you earn a second life."
Desjardins came to see Borsuk in Montreal with some requests: to be able to breathe well, to speak correctly and to have nose, lips, jaws and teeth.
Borsuk said Desjardins also wanted to be able to walk outside with her granddaughter without people watching her disfigurement.
The patient was carefully monitored for years before the procedure.
"We imposed tests on him," said Borsuk. "We wanted to make sure that guy was in good health … his needs were there, there was no other option for him and there was no other chance than he was there. have a normal life. "
Borsuk said the experts involved in the case of Desjardins included a psychologist who evaluated his mental strength over the years.
"He is so mentally hard that even with all that has been done, he has already begun to accept the new face," Borsuk said. "It's something we were counting on."
Borsuk described the procedure as "a combination of science, technology, engineering and art" that required years of laboratory training of the cadaver in the intestines of the hospital to minimize risk and maximize the results.
The Quebec operation required the expertise of nine surgeons, multiple specialists and the collaboration of more than 100 professionals, including doctors, nurses and many other staff members.
After seven and a half years of life with his disfigurement, 30 hours of surgery and a week in intensive care, a shocked Desjardins first glanced at his new face and kissed Borsuk for the first time.
"You can make a face, but it must be beautiful," said Borsuk, who believes the team has achieved "one of the best face transplants so far."
Transplant Quebec, the organ procurement agency of the province, emphasized the generosity of the family of unidentified donors, who authorized the procedure.
Borsuk said that it could not work from any donor, but of the same skin color, the same size, the same bone structure and even the same color.
Louis Beaulieu of Transplant Quebec stated that the donor had been identified and that his special consent had been obtained for the facial transplant procedure, which had been conducted in an ethical and respectful manner, the donor's family having recently passed away.
"The process of identifying with the supply is about 40 to 48 hours, that is the window with which we work," said Beaulieu.
Neither Desjardins nor his wife were present on Wednesday, but Borsuk said the patient was recovering well and could breathe without a tracheostomy, chew on his new jaws, and feel and talk properly.
Recovery and rehabilitation will take a year or more as he learns basic skills such as eating, drinking and even smiling. He will take immunosuppressive medication for the rest of his life.
In regards to the ethics of another human's facial transplant, Borsuk said that he did not consider it to be different from any other transplant, adding that the face took on importance increased through social media.
Under the transplanted face, there was the same Maurice Desjardins, he reminded reporters.
"At the time of our grandparents, your name meant something," Borsuk said. "Now, people want to see your face."
– Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
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