Spain's pioneering Vall d'Hebron hospital rebuilds man's face and neck during complex 27 hour operation

The 45-year-old patient suffered from a condition known as arteriovenous malformation which caused his facial tissues to degenerate and deform

Doctor Joan-Pere Barret, chief of the Plastic Surgery and Burn Reconstruction department at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, explains the hospital's second face transplant (EPA)

A hospital known for pioneering face transplant surgery has carried out its most complex operation yet, reconstructing a man’s lower face and neck in a procedure that lasted for more than 27 hours.

The Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona, which performed the world’s first successful face transplant in 2010, said that a team of 45 doctors, surgeons, nurses and anaesthesiologists took part in the operation in February. Other specialists from the hospital’s plastic surgery and liver transplant departments were also brought in to advise on the operation. The patient, a 45-year-old man, has asked not to be identified.

“This is the first time in the world that a transplant of this complexity [has been] performed,” the hospital said. “The patient evolution after the surgery was successful, similar to any transplant patient at the hospital. Now he is already at home and only comes in for routine check-ups.”

For the past two decades the patient has suffered from a condition known as arteriovenous malformation, which causes tissues to degenerate and deform, causing, in this case, a collapse of many of the man’s facial features. The man developed the condition after suffering from a tumour, which had grown in the same area. Other hospitals had said that the risks involved in the procedure were too great, and refused to operate.

“The patient had important functional alterations, such as vision and speech problems, and the risk of severe bleeding that put his life in danger,” the Barcelona hospital said.

Dr Joan-Pere Barret, the head of plastic surgery and burns at Vall d’Hebron, hailed the operation as a success, saying it was, “very good, excellent… which the patient recognises”.

Unlike similar operations where a patient has had features of their face replaced, or rebuilt, the latest procedure was much more invasive. Most of the man’s lower face has been reconstructed, including his neck, mouth, tongue and the back of his throat.

Speaking to Efe, the Spanish news agency, Dr Teresa Pont said that it had been a long wait for a suitable donor. She described the family who agreed to allow tissues from a deceased man to be used, as having acted with, “extreme generosity”.

The hospital said it has another potential face transplant patient, who is awaiting a donor.

In April 2010, the Vall d’Hebron carried out the first successful face transplant operation on a patient known as “Oscar”. The hospital said that “Oscar” is now living, “a normal life”.