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.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS