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Italians Perform Groundbreaking Full Jaw Transplant

Posted by timothy on from the jawing-is-a-verb-after-all dept.

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."

19 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Units... by addaon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    -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.
    1. Re:Units... by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, what are the odds, you know? Out of all the temperatures to choose from, they just happen to pick that one...Truth is truly stranger than fiction. Obviously, cosmological fine tuning of physical constants make the molecular bonds of Nitrogen just right for them to go liquid at exactly the same temperature as they were keeping this guy's jaw. Absolute proof that there is a God. You heard it here first.

  2. Facial recognition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yet another example of a weird case where biometric systems can break down.

  3. Why organic? by avalys · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why does a jawbone need to be organic? Couldn't an artificial one be made of titanium or something?

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    1. Re:Why organic? by HaloZero · · Score: 2, Funny

      Adamantium! Adamantium plated-bone structure. Go ahead, punch me, I dare you. Espicially with the jaw. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

      [Whack!] 'Ow!' Damnit.

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      Informatus Technologicus
    2. Re:Why organic? by cperciva · · Score: 3, Informative

      We're not that good at building implants yet. The human body is a rather hostile environment, really; bone has the advantage that it is continuously repaired.

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      Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
    3. Re:Why organic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Exactly; Ti and other compounds need special treatment at the attachment points, while 'dead' bone still provides a better connective matrix, most likely.

      There was progress in using (dead, sterilized) coral for similar reasons, IIRC. However, dead people are likely less of an endangered resource, and already come in the rough shape you'd want.

    4. Re:Why organic? by Sir+Holo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why does a jawbone need to be organic? Couldn't an artificial one be made of titanium or something?

      It can. My dentist was installing metal (I think titanium) jaw part replacements into guys wounded in Vietnam. The problem is that the thermal and mechaincal properties of bone and titanium (or any metal) are very different. This leads to a lot of pain with slight temperature changes, mechanical shock like chewing, and so on. It's best to replace body parts using materials that are as similar as possible to the original. You can't get much closer that bone-for-bone.

  4. Meh... by happypizzaguy · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

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    "When all else fails, there's always delusion." -Conan O'Brien
  5. And, in Hollywood.... by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Funny

    Jay Leno is sleeping with a loaded shotgun.

    Just in case.

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    www.eFax.com are spammers
  6. Yet.. by NegativeK · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The current patient is said to be doing well.", says Professor Giuseppe Spriano.

    When questioned for comments, the patient would not respond.

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    This statement is false.
  7. Also in other news... by stienman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Italians Perform Jawdropping Full Ground Transplant

    -Adam

  8. Re:Feeling by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    When you lose your jaw, and then you get a second jaw from a cadaver, everything you do with that new jaw seems more satisfying than before, because you realize how ephemeral your lower jaw really is. At any moment you might lose it again, so you want to enjoy every moment to its fullest.

    I bet right now this guy is chewing on the sweetest, juiciest Red Man chewing tobacco he's ever tasted!

  9. Well... by Masa · · Score: 3, Funny
    This is a quite jaw-dropping news, I would say.

  10. -196�C by X86Daddy · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...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.

  11. Clarification by DjMd · · Score: 2, Informative

    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....

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    DJMD - The fourth man - Planetary
  12. ...not quite so simple by danro · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

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    "First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
  13. where do I sign up? by phrantic · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

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    --My sig is bigger than your sig--
  14. Metallic bodyparts by Alcohol+Fueled · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

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    Ah am not a crook! (\(-__-)/)