Doctors Perform First Partial Skull And Scalp Transplant
BOSTON (CBS) - Surgeons have used plastic implants and bone grafts to close large defects in patients' skulls before but now doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital say they have performed the world's first partial skull and scalp transplant.
The 55-year-old patient, Jim Boysen, who had a large head wound caused by radiation treatment for cancer received a partial skull and scalp from a human donor. That donor also provided a pancreas and a kidney, which the patient also desperately needed.
"I couldn't get the transplant surgery that I needed for the organs without fixing my scalp," Boysen says. "But I couldn't fix my scalp with the failure of my organs. I was between a rock and a hard place."
Dr. Michael Klebuc of Houston Methodist Hospital says he felt lucky to have been included in the process. He then turned to Boysen during Thursday's press conference and said, "During the whole planning of this procedure and going through the surgery you have demonstrated incredible courage and strength of spirit and patience, and you have actually personally inspired me."
The operation took place on May 22 and Boysen will leave the hospital today.
