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First Human Tongue Transplant

Posted by michael on from the tongue-in-cheek dept.

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.")"

9 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. You've said a mouthful, michael by dacarr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    First successful tongue transplant? I'm curious then, does food taste different because it was somebody else's tongue? Oh yeah, FP! =)

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  2. First?!?! by Flwyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've been transplanting my tongue into other people's mouths for years.

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  3. !sdrawkcaB by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 5, Funny


    !tiodi uoy sdrawkcab eugnot eht dehcatta uoY

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  4. It's less weird than what they used to do by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

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  5. Err, really not funny? by NanoGator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "(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.

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    "Derp de derp."
  6. Oh no, this sucks by L.+VeGas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just got the first "Increase your tounge by 6 inches!" spam in by mailbox.

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  7. great, but not really a step forward... by ravenousbugblatter · · Score: 3, Informative
    Man, think about where that tongue might have been ;~)

    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...

  8. Dear submitters to slashdot, by onomatomania · · Score: 3

    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.)

  9. More than a mouthful by chloroquine · · Score: 3, Informative
    I think that they said that the guy would have motion and be able to feel things but that he wouldn't be able to taste things.

    Apparently without a tongue, he would have had to be tube fed for the rest of his life.