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First Human Tongue Transplant
JThaddeus writes "The New Scientist reports that "The world's first human tongue transplant has been successfully carried out by doctors in Austria." The 14-hour surgery replaced the 42-year old owner's original tongue which had to be removed because of a malignant tumour in his mouth. (Imagine the interviews: "I wanna thank all the doctorth and nurtheth who performed thith thuccethful thurgery.")"
First successful tongue transplant? I'm curious then, does food taste different because it was somebody else's tongue? Oh yeah, FP! =)
This sig no verb.
I've been transplanting my tongue into other people's mouths for years.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
!tiodi uoy sdrawkcab eugnot eht dehcatta uoY
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
A good friend had cancer in his tongue a few years back. Rather than transplant in a donor, they just pulled up some of his pectoral and rebuilt it into a tongue for him. He could eat and drink, but lacked all sense of taste (as does the transplant patient, btw)
He had a helluva time with Tic Tacs, since he also couldn't feel tiny things.
Do me a favor, don't mod this posting. If you must, at least do a "+1 - Funny" as he would have wanted it that way.
--
"(Imagine the interviews: "I wanna thank all the doctorth and nurtheth who performed thith thuccethful thurgery.)"
Anybody else read this and think that the story submitter picked a bad time to make a joke? The dude had cancer, it's not like he lost his tongue in a way that'd earn him a Darwin Award Honorable Mention. Making fun of him for that was tasteless, no pun intended.
"Derp de derp."
I just got the first "Increase your tounge by 6 inches!" spam in by mailbox.
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So, aside from the fact (presuming this was a xenotransplant) that this guy is going to have to take immunosuppresants for the rest of his life which have significant side effects like kidney damage, it will be interesting to see what happens. The tongue is actually a pretty impressive bit of tissue comprised of several layers of muscle, and the innervation of it from the hypoglossal CN is not insignificant.
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Tongue Cancer is just a barrel of laughs!
Anybody else read this and think that the story submitter picked a bad time to make a joke
Well I looked at it and assumed that the guy got tounge cancer the normal way... abuse of tobacco products. Sorry I have a hard time feeling sorry for self inflicted wounds.
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
If this works it'll be great. But unfortunately, it will be like most transplants - temporary. Something like ~75%, or more, of transplants are rejected after 5-7 years, even when the person is taking immunosuppresive drugs. Fact of the matter is, we understand why rejection occurs, but we don't yet have the ability to prevent it. Until that happens, and xenotransplantation will play a big role in it, transplants will continue to be risky and long-term failures. But hey, sometimes that is better than the alternative...
"Well I looked at it and assumed that the guy got tounge cancer the normal way... abuse of tobacco products. Sorry I have a hard time feeling sorry for self inflicted wounds."
I might agree with you if not for the addictiveness of tobacco products.
"Derp de derp."
Does this change the way the transplant patient tastes certain foods? Will he like foods he didn't like before or dislike foods he used to like? Perhaps his favorite food will be whatever the person that had the tongue before liked? Just wondering.
I would like to clarify this for you slightly. The moral of that post was to show how unfunny tongue cancer really is. Considering the wisecrack in the story, this bring-us-down-to-reality post shows a lot of insight on the part of the poster.
I hope you, as well as JThaddeus, take some time to give this a bit of reflection.
The average size of the words in quotes is like 7. Which is crazy.
Acually, it's 5.1882353, but that's including every single word (articles, etc.)
These scientists and their big words. They think they know so much.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
Dear submitters, do you think we could possibly get story writeups without the bad 12-yearold humor? You know, something befitting a site visited by tens of thousands every day, and not the "hey bevis, huh, his tongue has cancer" drivel? Mmm'kay, thanks. (and editors, you know you can actually... EDIT those submissions, too.)
I call dibs on Gene Simmons' tongue.
Tongue-fucking girls just got easier!
This sounds like the start of a great plot for a pornographic sci-fi horror film.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
Given the ability of my ex-wife to nag for hours without a break I hope to God that she was the donor.
Ed Almos
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
Would've come in handy for the prison trustee whom Billy bit
Apparently without a tongue, he would have had to be tube fed for the rest of his life.
I might agree with you if not for the addictiveness of tobacco products.
And who held the gun to this persons head and said start sucking away. Tobacco addiction has a long well known history. If our society was intelligent no one under 60 would be smoking today. Of course I had a high school teacher that said you can never under estimate the intelligence of the average american Kumquat. I think he is right, I get more amazed by the hour
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
For anybody who didn't get it... Comic Book Guy / The Aquaman Quote
That's a bit of a narrow perception, don'tcha think? Not trying to be insulting or inflammatory here, but you are oversimplifying a rather complex situation.
"Derp de derp."
Apparently it was SCO CEO Darl McBride's tongue. They transplanted it from Bill Gates' ass.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
How is saying any of that being narrow minded. Is it narrow minded to tell our children not to play in traffic because they could be hit by cars (no matter how fun it really is)... People that accept other peoples stupidity, and then try to rationalize it scare me to no end.
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
"If you care about your health (Ok, I guess there are suicidal people in the world) you shouldn't smoke."
Yet, people still do it. Why? Think about it.
"How is saying any of that being narrow minded."
Because there are many factors at play. If you understood more about what all was involved in people smoking despite the risks to their health, it would be unlikely that you would have the opinion you do now.
" Is it narrow minded to tell our children not to play in traffic because they could be hit by cars (no matter how fun it really is)... "
Apples != oranges.
"Derp de derp."
People do stupid things. Obese people pork out on fatty foods. Drunks drown their livers in booze. Smokers fry thier lungs with tabacco. It's not a complex issue. Some people trade off short time pleasure for long term destruction. It's their stupid choice, let them live with it.
If they are adults, they need to take self responsibility for their actions.
This patient is Austrian, not American. (Not that that makes any difference)
Are you trying to imply the recipient was suicidal? If he was, then that's a nauseating waste of perfectly good organs that could have gone to someone who wasn't in such a rush to hurry along their demise. After all, it's not like he's going to be leaving any usable organs behind.
"If you understood more about what all was involved in people smoking despite the risks to their health, it would be unlikely that you would have the opinion you do now."
Please try to enlighten us. I personally agree with the parent poster and, short of illteracy (unable to read the Surgeon General's warnings that have been on the damned things since before most of us were even born), fail to see why these people deserve pity.
"Please try to enlighten us. I personally agree with the parent poster and, short of illteracy (unable to read the Surgeon General's warnings that have been on the damned things since before most of us were even born), fail to see why these people deserve pity. "
:)
I'll take a stab at explaining my view. I don't expect to change your opinions, but if you'll take a moment to read and understand my view then it'll be greatly appreciated, even if we can't see eye to eye on it. Cool?
People are aware of the health risks. No arguing that. Are they stupid for doing it anyway? I don't see it that way. I used to until I moved in with my girlfriend. She smokes. She's a very intelligent woman. She knows the risks etc. Smokes anyway. I dunno why, but this made me curious about cigarettes, what the addiction is like, etc. So I take drags off her cig. Not only does it make me kind of high, but it also kind of nice to come home to after a long day's work. My guess is that the chemicals in it reduce some of the thought activity in my brain, thus lowering my stress.
Now, I'm sitting here thinking the whole time "I can quit at any time. I'm not past the point of no return." As a matter of fact, I still don't feel that to date. I feel like I could quit at any time. I don't come home craving it unless my gf is smoking one. Despite saying this, I know for a fact that I've bugged my gf to light one up sooner because I wanted some of it. (In other words, I'm addicted even though I don't think I am.)
So what's happening here? Well I'll tell you this, I had cravings for cigarettes long before I ever smoked one. I suspect this has to do with second hand smoke. My best friend growing up smoked, boy was she stunned when I wanted a drag. My mom smoked. I worked around smokers etc. I couldn't get away from it. Worse, the cause of the addiction: nicotene. (sp?)
There's a chemical in it that on a subconscience level my brain craves. That causes me to react without realizing it. When I think about whether or not I've craved it in the past, for some reason I don't remember my asking my gf on numerous occasions to have one so I could steal a few drags. A part of my brain wants it.
So am I addicted? Well, I'm going to have to say yes. I don't crave it while I'm at work. Frankly, I don't crave it unless my gf lights up (pavlov?), and I don't crave it when I'm away from the house. Yet, I still am up and at 'em as soon as my gf starts to get one out. Yes, you can call me stupid for trying it in the first place. I would counter, though, that my decision to do so was based on cravings that were not caused by my smoking one in the first place.
So what's the summary of my story? If the cigarette makers had been more responsible (as opposed to greedy) and made something less addictive, I'd agree that it's stupid in the first place. However, the blame is really theirs. I pity people who die from cigarette cancer. Though their decision may have been ill advised, I don't feel that they had a whole lot of control over it. They had to start at some point. I'll tell ya something, the first cig is rather unpleasant. I nearly puked the first time. (I can't even finish a whole one on my own without stomach upset.)
I realize this won't change your mind. I don't expect it to, but I do appreciate your attention. Part of the reason I decided to drag off my gf was so that I could gather info like this. It's been quite interesting.
"Derp de derp."
The dude had cancer, it's not like he lost his tongue in a way that'd earn him a Darwin Award Honorable Mention.
I'd bet good money that he got cancer from using tobacco products. The only real difference between those who get the Darwin Awards and tobacco users is that the Darwin Award recipients did not see news reports, scientific studies, and warning labels that, for years, told them that what they were about to do would probably kill them.