Plastic Surgery 2009 News Briefs - Selected Research to be Presented on Tuesday, ...( Note: All ne...),Health

Note: All news briefs are embaroged until the date/time listed beneath each headline.

Seattle, WA (Vocus) October 8, 2009 -- Plastic Surgery 2009 News Briefs are designed to keep you up-to-date on embargoed studies and other news being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) held October 23-27 in Seattle. All briefs are embargoed until the date/time they are presented. To obtain an advance copy of study abstracts, for media registration, or to arrange interviews with presenters, please contact ASPS Public Relations at (847) 228-9900, media (at) plasticsurgery.org or in Seattle, Oct. 24-27 at (206) 219-4726.

Face and Hand Transplants - Ready to Become Mainstream Medicine?
Embargo for Release: Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Though once inconceivable, face and hand transplants are quickly making themselves more present, both in the operating room and in the media. The world's first hand transplant was performed more than a decade ago, and the first partial-face transplant performed in the United States (and most extensive procedure to date) was completed this year. However, the advances in composite tissue allotransplantation also presents a number of multi-faceted issues including donor availability, patient selection, social perception, ethics, and complications. Consider this: the first-ever hand transplant was amputated after the patient failed to follow his life-long immunosuppressive regimen. Members of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons and other leading surgeons in the field of face and hand transplantation will discuss whether, at this point, face and hand transplants are ready to become "mainstream" medicine at the ASPS Plastic Surgery 2009 conference, Oct. 23-27, in Seattle.

By the Numbers:

To date, there have been 7 partial-face transplants in the world and 8 double hand trans
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