Doctors in Germany have rebuilt a man’s face after growing a new jaw on his back.
By the fourth week after receiving the pioneering transplant the patient was able to enjoy his first solid meal for nine years.
The 56-year-old man tucked into a hearty dinner of bread and sausages in a hospital in Kiel, Germany.
Previously he had been confined to soft foods and soup after a large part of his jaw bone was removed due to cancer.
The groundbreaking procedure was carried out by German scientists who literally grew a new lower jaw on the patient’s own body.
First the team made a Teflon mould of the jaw replacement using CT scans, which produce 3D X-ray images, and a computer-operated milling machine.
A titanium mesh cage was then constructed around the mould, removed, and filled with bone mineral blocks, genetically engineered human bone protein, and bone marrow taken from the patient.
Next, the cage containing the raw ingredients of the new jaw was implanted under the skin below the man’s right shoulder blade, within the latissimus dorsi muscle.
It was allowed to remain and grow there for seven weeks before being removed along with a flap of muscle containing blood vessels.
After extracting the graft from the titanium mesh, surgeons screwed it on to the stumps left of the original lower jaw. The muscle flap was also transplanted on to the site.
Scans showed that new bone formation continued after the transplant, and the patient quickly regained the ability to chew.
The scientists, led by Dr Patrick Warnke, from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Kiel, wrote: ”By the fourth week post-transplantation the patient enjoyed his first dinner in nine years [bread and sausages]; before reconstruction he had only been able to eat soft food and soup.
”Even with his edentulous [toothless] jaws, he was now able to undertake a small amount of mastication. The patient was also satisfied with the aesthetic outcome of the procedure.”
Dr Warnke said the success of the technique had prompted the team to attempt the same procedure with other patients.
But he added that many vital questions still remained unanswered.
”For us to draw firm conclusions, an extended period of follow-up is necessary,” he said. ”We hope to present this patient’s long-term outcome and those of future patients at a later date.” – Sapa-DPA