Story highlights The ground-breaking procedure was performed in November 2005

Dinoire had been mauled by her dog

Paris (CNN) The recipient of the world's first face transplant, Isabelle Dinoire, has died, according to French doctors.

A statement released by Amiens Hospital, which performed the ground-breaking procedure in November 2005, said Dinoire died on April 22, 2016 "following a long illness."

She was 49 years old.

The delay in announcing her death was explained in the hospital statement.

"In accordance with the will of her relatives, no obituary was published in the press in order to protect their legitimate privacy at that painful time," the statement said.

Isabelle Dinoire a few months after her surgery, left, and a year later.

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