EDOF Support Leads to Groundbreaking Face Transplant

GENEVA, February 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Last week, Mayo Clinic announced the successful completion of its first face transplant performed at the Mayo Clinic's Essam and Dalal Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery. A team of over 100 surgeons, physicians, and other health professionals led by Dr. Samir Mardini, Surgical Director of the Center performed a near-total face transplant on Wyoming man, Andrew Sandness last summer. This groundbreaking, life-changing surgery will allow Mr. Sandness to chew, swallow, speak, breathe, and smell.

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The Essam and Dalal Obaid Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery was established in 2010 through a gift from the Essam and Dalal Obaid Foundation (EDOF). "We at EDOF are overjoyed with the news of the face transplant, wish the patient continued health, and send our congratulations to the amazing group of specialists who performed the surgery. This is exactly the kind of medical innovation EDOF wanted to enable when it founded the Center, so we could not be happier." said Dr. Nawaf Obaid, EDOF's CEO.

The surgery, which took place in the summer of 2016 but was only just announced, took over 50 hours. It involved restoring the patient's nose, upper and lower jaw, palate, teeth, cheeks, facial muscles, oral mucosa, some of the salivary glands and the skin of the face. Virtual surgical planning technology and 3-D printing were used to optimize the aesthetic and functional outcomes of the surgery.

Following the announcement of the successful operation, Dr. Hatem Amer, Medical Director of the Essam and Dalal Obaid Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery, said, "We are grateful that the guiding principles of the Mayo Brothers have endured and shepherded the development of the Reconstructive Transplant program." He also took care to mention the donor family: "Throughout the entire journey, we have shared Andy's concern and sympathy for the donor family who have made this amazing gift possible. Their selfless gift gives hope to so many other people who are living reclusively, have limited function, and are socially isolated due to facial deformities."

Thousands of people have received organs, tissue and bone marrow transplants at Mayo Clinic over the last 50 years. It performs more transplants than any other institution in the world and has been on the forefront of reconstructive facial surgery since the 1930s. While the clinic's primary goal is to restore normal anatomy and improve function, it also helps patients achieve better social integration by improving their appearance and removing their facial deformity, giving them the confidence to live less reclusively and have a better quality of life.

The clinic's ability to be at the forefront of transplant technology has been greatly bolstered by the establishment of the Essam and Dalal Obaid Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery. The Center got its start through a gift from Mr. Tarek Obaid, EDOF's Founder. "Because of the incredible generosity of Mr. Tarek Obaid and the Obaid family, Andy now has reestablished hope and a second chance at a normal life," Dr. Mardini Says. In response to the revolutionary face transplant, Mr. Obaid said, "Our foundation is all about giving people hope, and I can think of no better way to do this than to support the medical establishment's ability to perform successful transplants. I am so proud of the team, and look forward to more inspiring news."

More information about EDOF and the Mayo Clinic partnership: https://edof.org/en/partnerships/mayo-clinic/

SOURCE EDOF