First face swap moves closer

An American team is on the verge of carrying out the first face transplant, it was claimed today.

Surgeons from the University of Louisville in Kentucky are requesting formal permission to go ahead with the controversial procedure, New Scientist magazine reported.

Last year the Royal College of Surgeons said it would be "unwise to proceed" with face transplants until further research had been carried out.

But if the University of Louisville's Institutional Review Board gives the project the go-ahead the scientists plan to start screening prospective patients and looking for donors for the revolutionary operation.

The transplant, which requires grafting of blood vessels and nerves, could take 24 hours. Afterwards the patient would have to rely on immunosuppre s s ive drugs to stop the foreign tissue being rejected.