French hospital performs face, hand transplants

(AP) -- Paris' Public Hospital authority says a team of doctors has performed the world's first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant.

In a statement Monday, the authority said the recipient was a 30-year-old burn victim. The man, whose name was not released, was injured in a 2004 accident that left him with scars "preventing any social life."

French media reports have said the upper half of the face, including the scalp, forehead and eyelids, was transplanted. The statement did not provide such details.

A 40-person team worked for 30 hours on Saturday and Sunday to perform the operation at the Henri Mondor hospital in a Paris suburb.

The statement said it was the world's sixth partial-face transplant but the first to include hands as well.

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