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Surgeons perform BWH's first face transplant in April of 2009.
BWH received a $3.4 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to fund face transplants for U.S. military veterans who have severe facial deformities resulting from war injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“These veterans have given up their faces for our country, and we want to help them recover from these injuries so they can lead a normal life,’’ said Bohdan Pomahac, MD, of Plastic Surgery, who performed the hospital’s first face transplant last year with a 35-member surgical team.
The award will fund six to eight procedures at BWH in the next 18 months, potentially doubling the number of face transplants performed worldwide since the first in 2005. The contract is one of the first two awards provided through a new Department of Defense initiative to advance innovative medical procedures into mainstream practice.
Eligible recipients must be missing 25 percent or more of their face and be unable to rely on the help of standard reconstructive surgery. Military officials estimate as many as 200 veterans may be eligible for a face transplant.
Barry Martin, MD, chief of Plastic Surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., told The Boston Globe that the center has patients who could be considered. “We’re left dealing with some pretty horrific injuries on patients who are going to live,” he told the newspaper.
The award also will enable eligible civilians to have the procedure.
The Department of Defense requires BWH to measure results, including assessing whether the transplants improve patients’ lives and enable them to return to work.