Doctors at a Turkish hospital said today that they have performed the world's first quadruple limb transplant, attaching two arms and two legs to a young man.

Head surgeon Murat Tuncer appealed for blood donations to overcome possible complications following the 20-hour operation, performed by more than 50 medics at Hacettepe University Hospital in Ankara.

The operation follows a failed triple limb transplant two months ago at another hospital in the southern city of Antalya.

In that case, doctors were forced to remove a leg from a patient due to tissue incompatibility. The same patient also received two arms.

Mr Tuncer said his team also performed a separate face transplant yesterday, the second such operation in Turkey this year.