Breakthrough facial and scalp transplants in rats will serve as a model for future plastic and reconstructive surgery on humans, doctors at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital announced yesterday afternoon.
"Recent experiments have proven that facial transplants such as those seen in popular movies are now possible in rats," said Wei Fu-chan (
The experiments, which were conducted last year, involved taking the facial skin and scalp from black rats and transplanting the tissue on white rats. Of the 25 rats that received new faces, four were declared a success, with the rat living longer that 400 days after the operation and showing no signs of infection.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANG GUNG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
"[In the unsuccessful cases,] the rats died because they were too small to endure the six-hour procedure," said Betul Ulusal, the surgeon who performed the operations and a member of the hospital's plastic and reconstructive surgery team.
"Facial transplants ... require the lifting of more than one tissue type. They require the transplantation of the skin, the scalp, blood vessels and other tissues, depending on the situation," Wei said.
According to Jimmy Huang (
"Facial transplants are harder to perform than thigh transplants, because of the rejection of donor tissue. Future research will need to focus on immunosuppressive therapies," Wei said, explaining that rejection was a difficult problem in dealing with skin trans-plants in particular.
"Ulusal was able to isolate the four key blood vessels that have to be connected in order to sustain vitality. This is crucial, as it cuts down on the time needed for the surgery," Wei said.
According to Wei, the Chang Gung team would be able to learn the technique in about three months. He said their next step would be to apply the research to pigs, given the genetic similarities between pigs and humans. In humans, arm transplants would be the next step.
However, Wei warned about the ethical aspects of facial transplants.
"The societal and ethical impacts of facial transplants on human beings will be even more complex than the surgery itself," Wei said.
"One problem will be psychological. Looking in the mirror and seeing a different face will no doubt have an impact on a person's psychological health. Also, a face transplant will affect society's crime management if criminals are able to obtain a new face. Because research is still in its early stages, laws restricting research in this area have not yet been established," Wei said.
However, Ulusal said that several patients who had sustained facial injuries told her that they would rather die than live with their facial distortions.
"The experiments serve as a model for future research into full functional and aesthetic reconstruction," said Ulusal.
Rather than being used to reconstruct a patient's own face, the surgery will replace the patient's face with a different one, she said.
Wei also said that facial donors would be rare.
"Research will run into many problems, but as a doctor it is my responsibility to introduce new medical possibilities right now. The torch will be passed on to future doctors," Wei said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS