Spanish hospital performs the world's first face transplant with a euthanasia donor
The patient lost half her face to necrosis after an insect bite in the Canary Islands left her fighting for her life
A Barcelona hospital has made medical history by performing the world's first face transplant using tissue donated by a person who had received euthanasia.
Vall d'Hebron Hospital carried out the groundbreaking 24-hour procedure in September last year, involving around 100 medical professionals. For the recipient, a woman named Carme, it was "the only way to live a normal life" after a devastating insect bite destroyed half her face.
In July 2024, Carme was on holiday in the Canary Islands when an insect sting triggered a bacterial infection that caused severe necrosis of her facial tissues. She fell into a coma and spent months in intensive care fighting for her life.
"When I woke up, the necrosis had consumed half my face," she said. She couldn't eat because she was unable to open her mouth and struggled to breathe properly because half her nose was missing.
Four months after the transplant, Carme says her life is now "starting to get better" and credits Dr Joan-Pere Barret i Nerín, head of Plastic Surgery and Burns at the hospital, with being her guardian angel.
The donor was a middle-aged woman who chose euthanasia.
Dr Elisabeth Navas, medical coordinator of Donation and Transplants at Vall d'Hebron, described the gesture as one of "immense" generosity and altruism.
"It demonstrates a level of maturity that leaves one speechless," she said, "deciding to end her life by giving one of her last wishes to a stranger that will allow her a second chance."
For a face transplant to work, the donor and recipient must share the same sex and blood type as well as similar head measurements, which was the case for Carme and her donor.
Dr Barret explained that face transplantation is functional surgery carried out when patients have lost areas of the face that cannot be restored with common plastic surgery techniques.
"These are patients with severe facial disfigurement as a result of diseases, burns, trauma or congenital defects that affect basic vital functions," he said.
Vall d'Hebron has now performed three of the six facial transplants in Spain and three of the 54 carried out worldwide. In 2010, the hospital's team performed the world's first full face transplant, five years after a hospital in Amiens, France, carried out the first partial face transplant.
Laura Escot, a biomedical engineer from the 3D Technologies Unit, explained that a digital three-dimensional model was created from a CT scan to help professionals understand how to carry out the surgery.
Image: Vall d'Hebron
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