French surgeon behind first face and hand transplants dies

Lyon: A pioneering French surgeon who undertook the world’s first successful hand and face transplants has died at the age of 80, a friend told AFP on Sunday.

Jean-Michel Dubernard, who became one of France’s most famous medics during his career working in southeastern Lyon, collapsed at Istanbul airport on Saturday night while travelling with his family, the friend said, asking not to be named.

Dubernard led the world’s first hand transplant in September 1998 on a man from New Zealand, creating a sensation in the medical world that brought him global recognition.

Heading an international team of specialists, Dubernard and his fellow surgeons joined the patient’s arteries, veins, nerves, tendons, muscles and skin after pinning together the two bones of the forearm during a 13-hour operation.