Face-transplant surgeon in Dublin

The Irish doctor who hopes to carry out the world's first full face transplant will deliver a lecture on the procedure next month in Dublin.

Dr Peter EM Butler has carried out research for the past 10 years on the techniques required to achieve such a remarkable feat. He comes to Dublin on 15th June to talk about this controversial approach to facial reconstruction in a lecture entitled, Face Transplant: Science Fiction to Science Fact.

The lecture is one of an ongoing series of Academy Times lectures organised by the Royal Irish Academy and The Irish Times and sponsored by Depfa Bank. It takes place at 6.30pm in the Burke Theatre, Trinity College Dublin.

His visit is timely given surgical teams in the UK and the US are preparing to undertake full facial transplants and news of such an attempt is possible any month.

The world has also only recently seen the results of a partial face transplant conducted last November when a 38-year-old French woman who had lost her nose, lips and chin after being attacked by a dog received replacement tissue from a brain-dead patient. She attended a press conference several weeks ago at which the surgery was revealed to the public.

Butler leads the UK Facial Transplant Team and has practised as a plastic surgeon for years. He was born in Cork and brought up in Dublin before gaining his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons.

He trained in plastic surgery here before taking up a research fellowship in the US. He then returned to Britain where he has worked in a number of leading hospitals. He is widely published in the discipline and has more than 100 publications to his credit.

He will discuss the difficult technical and ethical issues surrounding face transplantation. It has been technically possible to carry out such procedures for some years, but the ethical concerns and the psychological impact on the patient has tended to hold surgical teams back.

Butler will describe the procedure itself, which involves the removal of skin, fat, nerves, arteries and veins from a brain-dead donor and then attaching them to the recipient.

The procedure can only be considered given the availability of powerful immune-suppressant drugs that block the body's rejection of the foreign tissues. Some surgeons believe that rejection could occur in up to half of patients over time. It is also a demanding procedure that could take up to 14 hours to complete. It is extremely delicate surgery requiring the reconnection of dozens of small blood vessels and nerves.

Butler will also explain why he believes doctors have reached the stage where such a procedure could be carried out with reasonable hope for a successful outcome. Subsequent rejection of the donor tissues is the greatest risk but doctors are not underestimating the psychological impact on the recipient, who will no longer present a familiar face when looking into a mirror.

Even so the procedure provides hope for the many thousands of patients who have been disfigured by accidents and who would take a chance to gain a new face.

Places at Peter Butler's lecture are provided free of charge but must be booked in advance given the limited number of places in the Burke Theatre.

Those wishing to attend should log onto the academy's web site at www.ria.ie and follow instructions after clicking on the lecture. A limited number of tickets are also available by phoning the academy on 01-6762570.