Woman's Voice Restored After Larynx Transplant

mvar writes "A woman in the US is able to speak for the first time in 11 years after a pioneering voicebox transplant. Brenda Jensen said the operation, which took place in California, was a miracle which had restored her life. Thirteen days after the surgery she said her first words: 'Good morning, I want to go home.' It is the first time a larynx and windpipe have been transplanted at the same time (image) and only the second time a larynx has ever been transplanted. In October, surgeons at the University of California Davis Medical Center removed the larynx, thyroid gland and 6cm of the trachea from a donor body. In an 18-hour operation, this was transplanted into Ms. Jensen's throat and the team connected it to her blood supply and nerves. Thirteen days later, she was able to speak her first croaky words and is now able to talk easily for long periods of time."

Comments

And so ends

[Anonymous Coward]

The happiest 11 years of one man's life.

This raises questions:

[Even on Slashdot FOE]

What does she sound like now, anyway? And what was her voice like before?

Re:This raises questions:

[I8TheWorm]

She sounds like James Earl Jones now. The good news is she also sounded like him before.

Re:This raises questions:

[Amorymeltzer]

You can hear her on the video in TFA. She sounds a bit like Yoda crossed with disguised Leia, but you can see how momentous it is for her. Really quite moving.

Re:This raises questions:

[Kilrah_il]

Talking needs both the suitable anatomy and the right "circuitry" (i.e. brain connection). While we may be able to implant a suitable larynx, the animal lacks the suitable brain connection for two reasons:
1) There was no evolutionary push to develop it, since there was no suitable anatomy (assuming the anatomy and neuroanatomy develop together).
2) There was no push for the brain circuits to develop in the animal's life, in the same way that a deaf person will not be able to hear properly, even with a hearing aid implantation (a cochlear implant), if he didn't hear anything in the first few years of his life.

Oh noes!

[Locke2005]

They can replace Adam's apples now? Now how are we gonna tell the real females from the trannies?

Re:Oh noes!

[the linux geek]

"Real females" vs "trannies." How tactful.

Re:Oh noes!

[Anonymous Coward]

So is "cracker" or "whitey" or "nerd" or "douche" and yet nobody gets their dick all bent out of shape for those things. Maybe these trannies just need to grow a pair of balls.

Re:Oh noes!

[Anonymous Coward]

Black people call each other "nigga" too, but it's still off limits for anyone who isn't black.

If that explanation isn't good enough for you, then read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaw#Controversy

It's considered derogatory by a lot of people. I remember in high school hearing a group of guys talk about how they would "love to fuck that little squaw bitch in history class." Imagine them instead saying "I'd love to fuck that little Asian bitch in history." Asian isn't a derogatory term in and of itself, but it's sure as hell meant to be one in that scenario. Same with squaw.

Of course, there are also a lot of people that just plain don't give a shit. As mentioned, I fall into that second category.

Re:Oh noes!

[Locke2005]

I am fully aware that there exists a small number of people that are not easily classified as one gender or the other. In fact, that is one of my arguments against California's Proposition 8: according to a law defining marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman, are these people denied their right to marry anyone? I'd love to see a true hermaphrodite or somebody with XXY chromasomes file suite.

In parting, let me say that this was an (admittedly pathetic) attempt at a joke which has been completely ruined by over-analysis.

Re:Oh noes!

[Locke2005]

Thank you for the wiki reference. I learned 2 things today. (The other thing was that you should never google the word "tranny", especially at work.)

Re:Oh noes!

[Velex]

That's odd, I Googled "transsexual woman" and got something completely different. I think I'll wear that shoe instead.

Pro tip: women born transsexual usually have two options: 1.) Gender transition. 2.) Suicide. As a culture we need to get over this idea that someone who has the wrong physical sex for their gender goes through gender transition to satisfy some sexual thrill.

It's wrong, completely wrong. There's a mountain of evidence that says that it's just simply factually incorrect. You might as well link me to the Flat Earth Society as "proof" that the world is flat. It's a superstition, nothing more, and a rotten one as it causes people to commit suicide and breaks apart families.

Now, that being said, transsexual women are sexual beings. Most people (not all) are. Yes, transsexual women have sex, but most have sex like a normal woman would, with their boyfriend (or girlfriend) in bed with the door closed and curtains shut (I'm assuming, but that's how I do it personally, ymmv, etc). However, some people who are sexual like to produce pornography.

Here's the other trick. Because medical insurance won't cover any of my costs related to gender transition (some plans do, and the AMA has encouraged health insurance providers to cover at least the sex change surgery itself and meds iirc), I've considered whether I'd want to be one of the people that gets returned when searching Google for "tranny." I'm not sure I'm desperate enough yet to even look into it, but I imagine some of those girls are up there for the sole reason that they're getting paid and gender transition is EXPENSIVE.

Guess what? I'd guarantee you that most of those girls you see when you Google "tranny" were once 7-year old boys who wished they'd just been born female. (Does anyone have research on transsexual women who participate in pornography and what their reasons are? I assume most are doing it for the same reason cisgendered women do it, but I'm curious if any/how many transsexual women do it simply because of anti-trans discrimination [thus perpetuating this self-fulfilling prophecy that a transsexual woman can only be a sex worker, but I digress].)

However, a 7-year old boy who wants to kill himself because he can't be a girl is NOT a sexual being. It's time to wake up and realize that transgender feelings aren't a fetish that gets turned on at the age of 12! Yes, children have transgender feelings. Why don't you try asking a "tranny" sometime and getting your head out of your ass and listening? Most transsexual women have known that something was wrong and have wanted to be girls since they were 7, many younger than that.

If you're going to tell me that a 7-year old boy who wants to be a girl is exhibiting a sexual fetish, you need some serious help. If it's ok with you that the same person, years later, kills themselves because of the things people like you spout off, you are a sick individual.

Oh, by the way, don't forget about the gentlemen. Apparently, "women" get sex changes, too, and then they live as men, so it's not even something unique to perverted "men," as I imagine trans women are in your own little world.

Cheers

Ebert?

[nebaz]

I wonder if Roger Ebert could be helped by something like this.

Human beings are closer to being an idea

[h00manist]

If every part of anyone's body can be replaced, and even completely transfigured and upgraded for various other better parts, what is a human being?

Re:Human beings are closer to being an idea

[guruevi]

Turk: So, dude, you don't understand. When I operate, I don't see a person, I see a machine with parts that need to be replaced and circuits that need to be rewired.
J.D.: So you think you're a robot mechanic?
Turk: As a surgeon, the more detached I am, the more focused I am. And it's pretty impossible to feel focused or detached when this guy's family's watching every move I make.
J.D.: Well, I wouldn't worry about that. Mr. Milligan only has a son and Elliot lost him.
Turk: Awesome!... For me.

Dr. Cox: It's actually a pretty sweet deal for them. After their loved ones are stripped for parts like a 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage, we treat them to some free cold cuts and a chance to hear you regurgitate some trite quotes about their family members sacrifice that you found on the Internet.

Re:Human beings are closer to being an idea

[Nick Number]

If every part of anyone's body can be replaced, and even completely transfigured and upgraded for various other better parts, what is a human being?

A captain of the Ship of Theseus.

Re:so her voice is different now?

[Locke2005]

Sure, but first you'd have to kill Bruce Willis and steal his larynx...

On a more serious note...

[Myji Humoz]

This is a seriously amazing time to live in, as multidisciplinary medical research teams are finding ways to give patients second chances at a relatively normal life. I can't imagine not being able to speak again for the rest of my life, (seriously, try taking a vow of silence for a single day) but I'm glad that the pool of "horribly life changing events without a cure" is getting whittled down bit by bit. Kudos to the research and operations team, and best of luck to the patient.

Re:On a more serious note...

[RightSaidFred99]

Yeah, every time I see one of these articles I forward to my "anti-(western)medicine" friends. You know the ones - they use words like Big Pharma and Quacks all the time, and are convinced the "Man" is keeping various life-saving herbs and natural remedies out of our hands because "there's no money in them".

I wonder which herb or tree bark fixes the physical inability to speak? Which one massively, provably brings down the death rates from breast cancer or leukemia? Which one fixes your busted ass knee or your broken arm?

Re:On a more serious note...

[unkiereamus]

I work in (real) medicine, I'm a fervent believer in it, and I use the phrase "Big Pharma", not to degrade the medical practices, but rather the business decisions.

My favorite example is the drug Zofran, it is the gold standard in chemo anti-nausea meds (with some arguments to be made for pot, but I'll not get into that.). We're talking the chemo patients who haven't been able to keep any food down for a week, and nothing else worked, unless they had particularly good insurance, Zofran was the last option, and it almost always worked...the reason it was the last choice is that it was sold for a bit over a thousand dollars a dose.

When it came off patent, and the generic manufacturers got started on it, would you care to guess how much they were selling it for?

Go ahead, guess.

Nope, you're wrong, about a dollar fifty a dose.

Now, I can have some sympathy for the argument that they need to recover the R&D costs, but due to what amounts to legal maneuvering, they managed to extend their patent for basically 15 years from FDA Approval to it coming off-patent...Did they really need 15 years of about a 70,000% markup?

That's my favorite example, but it's far from the only one.

Re:Donor body?!?!

[Trevorm7]

If the donor body was able to talk, we would have a much bigger problem to worry about...

Re:so her voice is different now?

[Abstrackt]

That'll be difficult. I hear he dies hard.

Re:Her voice or the donor's?

[RazzleFrog]

I'd imagine it is much like a trumpet and it's mouthpiece. If you put a trumpet mouthpiece on a trombone it's probably more likely going to sound like a weird trombone than a weird trumpet.

its a good thing but its still creepy

[circletimessquare]

when you receive a donor liver, kidney, lung, etc. from a donor, it's invisible. but a donor's voice?

it's just so personal

you open your mouth, and out comes the voice of someone else, who is dead

creepy!

of course its still a wonderful gift, but its just a creepy wonderful gift, that's all i'm saying

Re:Her voice or the donor's?

[RightSaidFred99]

Read the article - it's mostly how the lungs pump the air, mouth, lips, tongue, etc.. form the words. voice-box has very little to do with it.

Re:Loving family.

[Anonymous Coward]

Complaining? After 11 years with only her thoughts to occupy herself, this woman probably rivals the meekest nerd recluse in terms of outgoing personality / speech habits. Lots of time for introspection basically counteracts shallow thought and expression.

OTOH being mute that long might do things to the brain I can't even comprehend. Would be a fun topic to research :).

Re:so her voice is different now?

[ArcherB]

That'll be difficult. I hear he dies hard.

That will just make it difficult to close the casket.

Re:so her voice is different now?

[Stregano]

But it would be really funny. I would honestly pay for that surgery

Re:Donor body?!?!

[Black Gold Alchemist]

If the donor body was able to talk, we would have a much bigger problem to worry about...

All it kept saying was "Brains!" over and over again.

Re:interesting but what about this

[universegeek]

That happened after they put an Ubuntu in the oven... Yeah, I've got nothing here.