A CHINESE man who received a face transplant in 2006 has died, highlighting the risks of a recent groundbreaking US operation.
Li Guoxing, 32, died at his rural home in rugged southwestern China after forsaking immune-system drugs in favour of herbal medicine, his surgeon Guo Shuzhong said.
"His death was not caused by the surgery. Our operation was a success. But we cannot rule out a connection with the immune system drugs,'' said Dr Guo, a surgeon with Xijing Hospital in the northern city of Xian who operated on Li in April 2006.
Dr Qiao Guangliang, chief of Li's village in mountainous Yunnan province, also confirmed the death.
Both men said the exact cause of death was unknown as no autopsy was performed.
Li's death had been rumoured on Chinese blogs but has received scant attention in the mainstream press.
While the news of his death was confirmed today, Li reportedly died in July.
US doctors in Cleveland last week they conducted the world's first near-total facial transplant on a disfigured woman.
It was the fourth known facial transplant in the world.
Doctors in France had performed the first partial transplant in 2005 on a 38-year-old woman disfigured in a dog attack.
The next year, Li, a farmer, underwent an apparently successful operation to replace about half his face after it was ripped off by a wild bear.
Source : news.com
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