For the first time, the transplantation of a skullcap has worked

First time transplantation of a skullcap succeeded
According to her own statements, doctors in the US have succeeded in transplanting a skullcap for the first time. The patient, who had a rare cancer, survived the procedure well. He is currently in a rehabilitation center.

55-year-old receives skullcap of a donor
James Boysen is suffering from diabetes since he was five years old. As a result of the disease came to organ transplants, the intake of drugs with severe side effects and radiation. At the age of 55, he is now the first person to succeed in a completely new procedure. Doctors have transplanted James Boysen a portion of the skull and scalp of a donor. According to a Washington Post report, he is already starting to feel something in his new scalp. The Texas-based cancer treatment took place on May 22, but doctors at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital have just reported their success.

For the first time a transplantation of the skullcap succeeded. (Image: DragonImages / Fotolia)

Patient suffered from less common cancer
The hospital said the patient had a new kidney and a new pancreas implanted in the complicated procedure. More than 50 doctors and hospital staff were involved in the 15-hour operation at the Houston Methodist Hospital. According to AFP, the patient suffered from a rare cancer in which a tumor attacks the musculature. It is said that the man had been diagnosed with so-called leiomyosarcoma on the scalp in 2006. The doctors were able to treat the cancer successfully with radiotherapy, but a wound on the skull did not want to heal.

Blood vessels sewn together with fine instruments
The man with diabetes had already received a new kidney and a new pancreas in 1992. When both organs were to be transplanted again, this was initially not possible because of the cranial wound. The doctors in Houston decided therefore for the skull cover transplantation. "That was a very complex process," said senior physician Michael Klebuc. According to the physician, the blood vessels were sewn together under the microscope with instruments "that would be used to build a fine Swiss watch".

Great progress in transplantation medicine
Transplantation medicine has made tremendous progress in recent years. Thus, since 205, more than two dozen face transplants and over 70 hand transplants have been performed. Only recently has the first successful penile transplantation been performed in South Africa. And for months it has been reported that an Italian neurosurgeon wants to transplant the head of a terminally ill patient. James Boysen, who has survived the transplant well and is currently in a rehabilitation center, said he is looking forward to another thing that has happened to him by the way: "I'll have far more hair than I would at 21." (ad)