AIIMS Delhi launches India's first face transplant programme

New Delhi: The premier health institution, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has become the first in India to launch a face transplant programme and is preparing to perform the country's first such surgery within a year, officials said.

The Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Burns Surgery at AIIMS has initiated the process of setting up a registry of patients having severe facial deformity along with the loss of vital functions of the face like breathing, mouth opening and blinking and have not benefited despite multiple surgical procedures.

According to a recent PTI report, the department is also organising an intensive cadaveric workshop and academic training programme from February 11 to 15 at the Burns and Plastic Surgery Block. As part of the workshop, facial skin was harvested from a brain-dead patient on Thursday.

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To lead this advanced training initiative, AIIMS hosted Dr Indranil Sinha, Associate Chief of Plastic Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Harvard Medical School), Boston, an internationally recognised expert in composite tissue allotransplantation and face transplant surgery.

Dr Maneesh Singhal from the Department of Plastic Surgery will lead the programme with other faculty members, Dr Shashank Chauhan, Dr Raja Tiwari, Dr Rajkumar Manas, Dr Shivangi Saha and Dr Aparna Sinha.

The programme included hands-on cadaveric workshops, focused academic lectures, interdisciplinary discussions with the ENT, Maxillofacial Surgery, Nephrology, Immunology, Pathology, Psychiatry, Critical Care, Anatomy and Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO).

Dr Singhal, Head of the Department, Plastic, Reconstructive and Burns Surgery, AIIMS, said that there are a large number of patients suffering from devastating facial deformities due to acid burns, gunshot injuries and trauma, even after 10 to 12 surgeries.

"Identifying the right candidate and counselling becomes essential before considering them for face transplantation. Unmotivated, unstable patients, patients with active infection and cancers are not the right candidates for the procedure. Face transplantation is no longer experimental; it is the need of the hour, reports PTI.

"Developing this capability at AIIMS is essential to provide holistic functional and aesthetic rehabilitation to patients who currently have very limited options," Dr Singhal said.

Dr Indranil Sinha acknowledged that the skill set and infrastructure at AIIMS are at par with international standards, and he committed his full support to the programme.

Dr Singhal also said that AIIMS is planning to collaborate with Harvard Medical School for the programme.

Face transplantation is a medical procedure in which all or part of a person's face is reconstructed using tissue from a deceased donor to restore function and aesthetics.

According to Dr Singhal, so far, around 80 face transplants have been reported worldwide, with the latest one being done in Spain two weeks ago.

Dr Dipankar Bhowmick, Head of Department of Nephrology, mentioned that immunosuppression plays a critical role, for which there is all the infrastructure and facilities in place at AIIMS. The recipients of face transplants require lifelong immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection of the transplanted tissue by the immune system.

"Nephrologists' role is to protect the graft from any immunological reaction, both short-term and long-term, after the surgery. I am excited and will provide the best possible support for this initiative," he stated.

Dr Chauhan, Additional Professor, and Dr Saha, Assistant Professor, mentioned that the department has the experience of complex facial reconstructions and aesthetic surgeries, which will be helpful to initiate face transplants at AIIMS, Delhi.

Dr Preethy K, Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, emphasised the importance of rehabilitation and counselling throughout the course of treatment. She also mentioned that the department offers an in situ super-speciality course dedicated to transplant patients and expressed her enthusiasm to collaborate on this initiative.

Dr Singhal further emphasised that structured training, ethical preparedness and multidisciplinary collaboration are crucial before embarking on such complex procedures and initiatives like this workshop, are foundational to that goal.

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