A group of surgeons from the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal), lead by the renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Borsuk (also affiliated with the University of Montréal), recently made the announcement that they were successful in performing a face transplant on a patient.
This achievement is a first in Canada. The procedure, which took place in May 2018 at the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in partnership with Transplant Québec, was performed on a scarred 64-year-old man, making him the oldest recipient of a face transplant in the history of the human race.
The procedure, which lasted over thirty hours, needed the skills of various experts, as well as the extraordinary teamwork of more than one hundred professionals, including physicians, nurses, and a wide variety of other staff.
The transplant was made possible by way of an organ donation owing to the effort that was done by Transplant Québec, together with the approval of the donor’s family and their enormous empathy for the recipient of the gift.
“This delicate operation is the result of years of concerted, meticulous work by an incredible team and the incredible bravery and cooperation of the patient and his family,” said the surgeon. “This delicate operation is the result.” We endeavored to expand on the expertise and experience of the pioneers in the area of face transplantation by combining elements of science, technology, engineering, and art in order to carry out the most successful facial transplant we possibly could for our patient. Dr. Borsuk, who is also a professor at the Université de Montréal, made this statement.
The person who received the transplant is doing well four months after the operation. He has completely regained the capacity to breathe on his own without the assistance of a tracheostomy and has started chewing with his new jaws, smelling via his new nose, and speaking with his new lips. The guy had extensive facial scarring as a result of a gunshot wound that occurred seven years ago. Since that time, he has been in continual agony and has had a low quality of life, despite having had five reconstructive operations. This is despite the fact that he has tried his best to recover from his injuries. The patient had no other choice than to undergo the face transplant procedure in order to regain the use of his two jaws, facial muscles and nerves, teeth, lips, and nose.
“The CIUSSS is proud to have reconstructive surgery excellence within its walls,” stated Yvan Gendron, President and CEO of CIUSSS-EMTL. “This discipline gives the hope of returning to a normal life to many patients,” added Gendron. “The CIUSSS is proud to have reconstructive surgery excellence within its walls.”
The patient was forced to adapt to life with a tracheostomy, which is a surgically created opening in the trachea. He had significant difficulties breathing, sleeping, eating, and speaking due to his condition. In addition, the patient found that engaging in social contacts and making public appearances was difficult, which led to the patient opting to spend their time alone and confined to their home. This natural extrovert had been hoping, for a number of years, that she would eventually be able to have a regular life and interact with other people.
The medical staff that performed the face transplant. This medical and scientific accomplishment, which is without precedent in Canada, could not have been accomplished without the tireless efforts of a complete team. The surgical team included a total of nine surgeons: Dr. Daniel Borsuk, Dr. André Chollet, Dr. Dominique Tremblay, Dr. Jenny Lin, Dr. Charles Guertin, and Dr. Michelle Tardif worked in the field of plastic surgery; Dr. Tareck Ayad and Dr. Akram Rahal worked in the field of ENT; and Dr. Jean Poirier worked in the field of maxillofacial surgery.
The kindness of a family, as well as the indispensable work of Transplant Québec Not only does this accomplishment need medical skill, but it is only one of the many factors that contributed to its overall success. There are a great number of partners that should be recognized for the contributions they made to this massive project. A man was given the opportunity to live a life that is closer to being normal due to the generosity of the donor and the donor’s family. The team would like to begin by expressing their deepest gratitude to the donor and to the donor’s family. “As a plastic surgeon, I am aware that facial injuries, regardless of how severe or minor they may be, have a particularly symbolic quality and are intricately connected to our individual identities. “This transplant offered immense hope and possibility to our patient,” said Dr. Borsuk, who also wished to thank Transplant Québec, a valuable partner throughout the procedure. Facial deformity may have a harmful impact on a person’s self-confidence and productivity, and thus, this transplant offered immense hope and possibility to our patient.
“Transplant Québec is extremely delighted with the successful outcome of this, the first face transplant in Quebec and Canada. This was made possible thanks to the donation of organs. We would want to express our gratitude to the donor family, who gave a moving demonstration of compassion and generosity when they agreed to let their family member’s face and organs be donated. One of the secrets to the success of this first, which was so helpful for the recipient, is the amazing teamwork between the teams that Dr. Borsuk’s team and Transplant Québec’s had with one another. Mr. Louis Beaulieu, Managing Director of Transplant Québec, said that the creative nature of this transplant is evidence of the professional maturity of Transplant Québec and its health institutions in Quebec, which are valued partners. “The innovative character of this transplant”
Other key partners participating in the face transplant include Johnson & Johnson, who donated free medical equipment, including devices and surgical items. Johnson and Johnson is an example of one of these partners.
A drawn-out process of preparation for both the medical staff and the patient Both the doctors performing the operation, who have spent the preceding time honing their skills, and the patient, who has been subjected to a great deal of in-depth testing both physiologically and psychologically, must spend not months but years getting ready for an operation of this magnitude. This kind of operation also calls for extensive preparation in terms of ethics and logistics on the donor’s end, not to mention the fact that the donor’s family has to give their approval to various aspects of the procedure.
“We wanted to make sure that the recipient would take on what was going to be a major change in his existence in the best physical health possible, armed with all of the necessary information, and psychological support,” said Dr. Borsuk. “We wanted to ensure that the recipient would take on what was going to be a major change in his existence in the best physical health possible.” He continued by saying, “We will continue to support the patient so that he can completely adapt to his life post-surgery.” Face transplant milestones This intricate technique is still being performed very seldom all around the world. Since 2005, there have been around forty face transplants carried out in various parts of the globe. The transplant that was performed by Dr. Borsuk and his colleagues at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont is not only the first of its kind in the nation, but it is also the first of its kind for countries in the Commonwealth. In spite of the intricacy of the treatment and the subsequent rehabilitation, the procedure is in reality quite affordable for the public system when compared to the several surgeries that would have been necessary to try to repair this kind of damage. This is because multiple surgeries would have been required to attempt to reconstruct this sort of injury. However, on a more basic level, it enables the recipients of face vascularized composite allotransplantation to lead lives that are more productive and normal than they would have been able to before the procedure.
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont’s competence Within the region, this facility is home to the sole adult multidisciplinary cranio-maxillofacial surgery team. The team focuses on doing intricate reconstructions of the face and neck as their area of expertise. The Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont is recognized as a global pioneer in a number of medical specialties, including hematology, research pertaining to transplants and the immune system, cellular therapy, ophthalmology, and nephrology. The hospital has vast expertise doing transplants.
Dr. Borsuk, a renowned plastic surgeon, performed this procedure using all of the knowledge and expertise he gained over his career as a pioneer in face reconstruction. In 2012, he was the sole Canadian doctor on an American face transplant team, and he performed surgery on a 37-year-old man who had been wounded by a gunshot wound. As a result, he has already earned a place in the annals of facial reconstruction history. Recently, Dr. Borsuk’s team executed a face reconstruction on an adult patient at the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont using virtual surgical methods and 3D models. The procedure took eight hours and was done on an inpatient. They then extracted a portion of vascularized pelvic bone, shaped it to be used on the face, and then transplanted it via the inner of the mouth so that there would be no scars left on the face. This was done in order to avoid leaving any scars on the face. Dr. Borsuk is especially well-known for his work with children who have been bitten by dogs and need medical attention.
Before going on to complete his residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Université de Montréal, Dr. Borsuk earned degrees in biology, business administration, and medicine from McGill University. Subsequently, he finished a sub-specialization in cranio-maxillo-facial surgery as well as adult and pediatric micro-surgery at Johns Hopkins University and at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland, under the leadership of Dr. Edouardo Rodriguez, one of the pioneers in face transplants. Dr. Rodriguez was one of the pioneers in face transplants.
