Twin-on-twin Skin Transplant Saves Fatal Burns Victim

Frank Dufourmantelle, a 33-year-old Frenchman, was handling dangerous chemicals as part of his job when the chemicals caught fire and set him on fire. He was rushed to the hospital with ninety-five percent burns. Doctors declared that he had only one percent chance of survival. Then the good news came when doctors came to know that Frank has an identical twin brother, Eric, who wants to donate his skin for his twin brother.

“His chances of survival were minimal. But I learned that Frank had an identical twin, the skies lifted. Their genetic make-up is identical. It’s as if it were his own skin,” said Professor Maurice Mimoun, a plastic and respiratory surgeon.

Within a week, doctors removed fifty percent of Eric’s skin from his scalp, back, and thighs. They removed thin layers of Eric’s skin, which are of about 5 to 10 cm wide. The skin grafts were stretched like “fishnet stockings”, said surgeon Maurice Mimoun of the Saint-Louise Hospital in Paris where the surgery was conducted.

Receiving skin grafts from a genetically identical twin eliminates the chances of rejection of the skin by the recipient’s body.

After being burned in a work accident, Frank was admitted to a hospital in September 2016. The first graft from his identical twin was done seven days after the accident which was followed by a dozen of other procedures.

“Today, he is at home with his partner, he can get on with his activities, his face has healed well. It helped that Franck was in good health at the time of the accident and did not smoke,” the surgeon said.

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References:

France Skin Graft: Twin's Skin Saves Man With 95% Burns - (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42096289)

Source-Medindia
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