French woman who received first face transplant dies

The world's first recipient of a face transplant, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire, died in April "after a long illness", a French hospital said on Tuesday.

The hospital in Amiens, northern France, confirmed the death of "Mrs D., the first patient in the world to receive a face transplant in an operation carried out by Professor (Bernard) Devauchelle and his teams on November 27, 2005." The hospital said her death had been kept quiet to protect her family's privacy.

Le Figaro newspaper reported that Dinoire's body had rejected the transplant last year "and she had lost part of the use of her lips".

The drugs that she had to take to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant left her vulnerable to cancer, and two cancers had developed, the report said.

At the age of 38, Dinoire received a triangular-shaped graft, comprising the nose, lips and chin from a brain-dead donor, to replace parts of her face that had been mauled by a dog.