According to a December 23rd press release from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, the DoD has awarded the facility with a $3.4 million dollar contract that will fund face transplants for U.S. military veterans that sustained facial injuries while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The DoD estimates that a minimum of 200 veterans may qualify for a face transplant procedure.
One of two contracts awarded by the DoD as a part of a new proposal to incorporate pioneering medical procedures into conventional practice, the funding will cover the cost of between six and eight face transplants within the next year and a half. This could potentially double the total number of face transplants performed in our country since the very first, accomplished about four years ago.
In addition to vets, qualifying civilians will also be permitted to undergo face transplants at Brigham and Women’s. In order to be deemed eligible, a recipient must be missing a minimum of twenty-five percent of their face, and must not have benefited from customary reconstructive surgical efforts.
In April of last year, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a plastic surgeon and director of the Brigham and Women’s Burn Center, completed the first face transplant at the hospital. Dr. Pomahac’s surgery was the second of its kind in the country and only the seventh in the entire world.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital – which happens to be a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical Center – is also unique in that it serves a great number of mesothelioma patients. The International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s has been serving individuals diagnosed with this rare and aggressive form of cancer for over two decades, and the center houses some of the most cutting-edge mesothelioma diagnosis tools.
Led by Dr. David Sugarbaker, the Chief of Thoracic Surgery, the team at the International Mesothelioma Program continues to diagnosis and treat patients – some who happen to be veterans – with mesothelioma cancer. Although less than 3,000 individuals are diagnosed with mesothelioma on an annual basis, this cancer is still an extreme cause for concern, as it is linked to previous exposure to asbestos. Asbestos, as you probably know, was found in a number of products up and was unregulated until the mid-eighties, when the Environmental Protection Agency and federal government devised usage guidelines in an effort to protect people from the carcinogen. Items such as attic insulation, drop-down ceiling tiles, and drywall contained asbestos, and for veterans, exposure often occurred on board naval vessels, in military aircraft and in base housing.
Veterans who served during World War II are considered to be at the highest risk of developing mesothelioma cancer. The number of navy vets who suffer from mesothelioma is quite high, in fact, and while the public may believe that vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are not at risk of asbestos exposure, this is not the case. Asbestos is still imported to several Middle Eastern countries, where its use is virtually unregulated.
For veterans who have been wounded in combat and are eligible for a face transplant, the DoD contract may provide them with an opportunity to change their life. As a veteran myself, I am pleased with the DoD’s decision to award this contract to a hospital that has a history of serving veterans, including those who suffer from an incurable and service-related disease like mesothelioma cancer.
