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Italians Perform Groundbreaking Full Jaw Transplant
statikuz writes "According to BBC News, Italian surgeons have performed the world's first complete jaw transplant. In eleven hours, the surgeons replaced a man's cancer-ridden jaw with a bone from a deceased donor; the donated jawbone was sterlized and stored at -196C to fight rejection, and "The current patient is said to be doing well.", says Professor Giuseppe Spriano, leader of the surgery team at the Regina Elena hospital in Rome."
-196 Celcius being better known as 77 Kelvin, familiar to us all as the temperature of liquid nitrogen.
I've had this sig for three days.
Yet another example of a weird case where biometric systems can break down.
Why does a jawbone need to be organic? Couldn't an artificial one be made of titanium or something?
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I saw this in James Bond movies 20 years ago! Try and get patients to not reject a steel jaw. Then I'll be impressed.
"When all else fails, there's always delusion." -Conan O'Brien
Oh never mind, I'll leave you back to your regularly scheduled drivel
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
How far did they go? Were they actually able to re-attach the nerves? Does he have feeling in his jaw?
Jay Leno is sleeping with a loaded shotgun.
Just in case.
www.eFax.com are spammers
on other artificial implants.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
"The current patient is said to be doing well.", says Professor Giuseppe Spriano.
When questioned for comments, the patient would not respond.
This statement is false.
Italians Perform Jawdropping Full Ground Transplant
-Adam
at that temperature, i hope they remembered to thaw the jaw out first. just pop it into a microwave on high for a minute should do the trick.
What's the deal with all of these crazy and groundbreaking types of surgery going on in Italy? I think someone there was working on cloning, some other people did other stuff (no other good examples are coming to mind at the moment). Do they give better funding for that type of research there?
...the donated jawbone was sterlized and stored at -196C to fight rejection...
Bringing all new meaning to frost-bite.
*rimshot* Thanks, I'll be here all week.
This is a bone transplant. (the article isn't clear, but you can't store living tissue at -196C, 77K you would kill the cells...)
So issues regarding nerves and sensation are not a factor...
It must be a pain to get a jawbone that matches size, it has to meet the tempomandibular joints on either side....
DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
steel rusts
I have a surgical steel barbell in my mouth (through the tongue actually) for four years and counting... and guess what?
No rust.
It all depends on the quality of the steel, as this example proves.
But I guess a steel jaw would be pretty heavy and uncomfortable though.
"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
I've got all the skin for a chin, well actually enough for two or three chins, but I seem to have miss-placed the bone that was supposed to come with it.
--My sig is bigger than your sig--
I will be glad when we're able to make metallic bodyparts as full replacements for lost limbs, fingers, etc. Maybe one day, we'll be able to replace damaged body parts with Terminator like metal parts. How cool would that be to lose an arm, but replace it with an almost indestructable artificial limb? I'd just hate to see the guy on the news who is rushed to the emergency room because his metal hand crushed his johnson... Ouch.
Ah am not a crook! (\(-__-)/)
Has anyone ever seen facial prostheses? Some people, suffering facial cancers or other disorders, must have portions of their faces removed and replaced with prosthetics. The face is a complex BITCH to operate on (IANAdoctor, but I play one on Slashdot! :).
The face carries a strong social attachment with it. Ever see a victim of a facial cancer without a prosthesis? Imagine a face without a nose. Without a cheek. Terrifyingly sad realities for some people. How can one socially interact when such a huge part of their very presence is so wrongly missing?
That doctors can actually replace diseased facial parts is an ASTOUNDING new breakthrough for medicine. If this turns out to be successful, some people will have amazing new hope.
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.