Referred facial sensation on the hand after full face transplantation

OBJECTIVE: Using a single patient case study, we aimed to look at the interaction between full face transplantation and subsequent somatosensory representation in the cortex. METHODS: We present a patient with full face transplantation who has recovered primary sensory modalities. The patient also has facial sensations such as touch perception in sensory examinations of the hands and fingers. RESULTS: fMRI findings show interactions between the cortical representations of the face and hand. CONCLUSION: This phenomenon is one of the well-known referred sensations and reveals how face transplantation relates to cortical plasticity.