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Article: Surgery's next step: face transplants.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- June 16, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Peter Gorner
CHICAGO _ Ethicists may find the idea unacceptable, but at least two medical centers in the U.S. are in the final phases of planning for a controversial new procedure: a face transplant.
Surgeons say they are ready to remove the face of a cadaver and stitch it onto an adult who has been severely disfigured by trauma, burns or tumors. The goal is helping people who often say they are shunned by society and lead extremely unhappy lives.
Currently doctors try to reconstruct faces by transplanting tissue from other sites on the body in multiple operations _ sometimes 120 or more separate surgeries _ and by implanting prosthetic ...