14-hour operation on hunter who was mauled by a bear
A hospital in Xian, Shaanxi province, has carried out what is believed to be the world's second face transplant after more than two years of preparation.
A team led by Guo Shuzhong, the head of the plastic surgery institute at the Xijing Hospital in Xian, began the operation on Thursday afternoon and took more than 14 hours to complete it.
Last year, French woman Isabelle Dinoire became the first person in the world to receive a face transplant.
The vice-director of the Xian institute, Han Yan , said this week's operation was even more complicated than the one performed by the French team because of the greater damage to the patient's face.
The patient was identified as Li Guoxing , a hunter and a native of the Lisu ethnic minority in Yunnan province , who was mauled by a bear two years ago.
According to Dr Han, the right half of Mr Li's face, his nose and upper lip were so badly disfigured that it was impossible to reconstruct the patient's face with his own tissue.
'Instead, surgeons had to transplant donor tissue and bone with extra care,' Dr Han said.
The tissue and bone came from a brain-dead patient.
Dr Han said there were no laws regulating face transplants on the mainland but the hospital did have an ethical committee to take into account all the aspects of such a landmark operation.
He said the patient's nerve system, muscles and nose structure had to be reconstructed, and that the hospital studied Mr Li's condition for more than a month before deciding to go ahead.
According to Dr Han, the 30-year-old patient had regained consciousness after the operation and had even managed to drink some water.
The hospital prepared for the operation by conducting face transplants on animals, including rabbits.
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