This is the stuff awards are made of!

2006/08/25

Modern science and technology progress at such high rate that fantasy and sci-fi books no longer capture the attention they used to: for the most part even the most daring and bizarre idea that crosses creative minds of imaginative authors shortly becomes a reality. “Fiction turned fact” – a task quite attainable by this century’s scientists who overcome all challenges and stumbling blocks on their path to show forth ever more incredible discoveries. In the medical field, for instance, new breakthroughs are made almost on a daily basis. Enough is to mention the plastic surgery development that allowed a woman to put on a brand-new face after her own was destroyed by her pet dog…

In another case a young man from Poland was able to recover his ability to speak thanks to the masterful skills of modern doctors. His misfortunes began the day Yarislav Ernst, 23, of Glivich, found out that his tongue had developed a malignant formation and that surgery would be inevitable. After the doctors finished operating on the man’ organ of speech they decided to attempt to completely restore it.

There have been cases previously where a patient who had lost his tongue would receive a donor’s organ and the procedure would end successfully. By the way, a similar incident took place in Austria not too long ago. But this time the surgeons’ achievement was truly unique: they managed to compose a new tongue for the young man out of… his out buttocks. “We removed the tumor and made sure that no malignant cells remained in the area. Then we collected skin, fat and nerve tissue from his buttocks and put it all together to form a new tongue, which we later sewed into his mouth,” – reports Stanislav Poltorek, the head surgeon of the oncological hospital in Glivitsi.

According to a specialist, this patient quickly recovered the ability to use the newly reassembled organ. “The new tongue is lively, it receives full access of blood, and the patient is doing just fine putting it use,” - one of the doctors shares the good news.

Note: The buttock tissue is considered optimal for the situations of this type, where parts of other organs’ tissue is removed or damaged. And besides since that area of the human body is considerably large, no harm will be done by treating it as resource of extra parts. After a short while the buttocks usually return to their original condition. And in any case the tongue seems to be much more important.