World's first 'face race' patient dies

A patient who received a new face and both hands has died of a heart attack just two months after the pioneering transplant.

Surgeons carried out the 30-hour operation to give the Frenchman "a relatively normal life". But they said he died after developing an infection, despite keeping him in isolation at a hospital near Paris.

Team leader Professor Laurent Lantieri said a risk of infection is "well known with transplants but was not the cause of death, which was down to a cardiac arrest".

Professor Lantieri insisted the death of the unnamed, 30-year- old burns victim would not put him off attempting even more complicated transplants.

His team replaced the entire face above the lips, including scalp, nose, ears and forehead. Doctors also grafted on new upper and lower eyelids - a world first.Another team replaced both hands, including the wrists.

The operation had been closely monitored by British medics, who are lagging behind in the so-called "face race".

In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler and his team at London's Royal Free Hospital were given permission to carry out a full face transplant but have yet to perform one.