Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
New Procedure Helps Cancer Patient Keep Her Voice | |
|
| |
A novel surgical procedure allows Sherry
Wittenberg - a cancer patient to keep her voice.
The technique, detailed online ahead of print
publication in The Laryngoscope, reconstructs a ring of cartilage in a
patient's neck called the cricoid with a slice from the tip of one shoulder
blade.
The biggest challenge is that doctors have never been able to rebuild a cricoid cartilage so that the patient can breathe through it, says Chepeha, director of microvascular surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, at the U-M Medical School. The reconstruction has to be both strong and thin - it has to hold the larynx and the components of the larynx together, and still be open so that the patient can breathe through it.
The curved tip of a patient's scapula, or shoulder blade, provides the right combination of attributes, Chepeha explains. And the blood vessels feeding the scapula tissue are left intact.
We had to carve this piece of her shoulder a little bit and then put it in her airway, he says. When you do a transplant from one part of the patient's body to another, you don't have the risk of rejection you would have with an outside donor.
A graft of tissue from the inside of Wittenberg's mouth was used to help reconstruct the lining of her larynx.
We had to pay a great deal of attention to the muscles and cartilage that were attached to the cricoid, Chepeha says. We had to carefully detach them, check that we had adequately removed the tumor, and then, once the scapular tip was in position, we had to reattach the muscles and cartilage.
Within just three months, Sherry was able to return to work, her voice intact and her larynx cancer-free.
My greatest fear was that I wouldn't be able to talk again, to work again, says Wittenberg, 58, of Cement City, Mich. My husband is a dairy farmer and farming's been very rough these days. I knew we needed my job.
Today, Wittenberg says her breathing has returned to normal and her speech is very close to what it was before the operation.
The only difference is that my voice doesn't have quite the same volume it did before, she says.
I feel like it was a miracle, Wittenberg adds. I happened to be in the right place with the right surgeon at the right time who was willing to try something that had never been done.
Source-Newswise
| |
|
|
More News on: Cancer and Homeopathy, Cancer Facts, Cancer, Tattoos A Body Art, High Blood Pressure and Herbs, Laryngeal Cancer, Herbs and Antioxidants, Top Ten Herbs to Promote Beauty
 Comment & Contribute
|
Related Links
Head Injury
Head injury is a leading cause of disability among children and young adults that leads to varying degrees of physical and mental stability. ...
World Cancer Death Clock
World Cancer Death Clock is a dynamic calculator that constantly updates the number of people in the world dying due to various ...
Worse Outcomes Observed in Non-English Speaking Head and Neck Cancer Patients
Being non-English speaking (NES) was a more significant predictor of treatment outcome than being of non-white race among advanced head and neck ...
Curcumin Can Suppress Head And Neck Cancer
More evidence to show the might of the humble Indian turmeric. Now researchers say that the curcumin in the spice suppresses a cell signaling pathway ...
Cancer Related News
Researchers Say Timing of Cancer Radiation Therapy May Minimize Hair Loss
Researchers suspect that hair loss in humans from toxic cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy might be minimized if these treatments are given late in ...
Mechanism Linking Key Inflammatory Marker to Cancer Found By Researchers
Researchers reveal how a key player in cell growth, immunity and the inflammatory response can be transformed into a primary contributor to tumor ...
Study Highlights RNA-Based Classification System for Colorectal Cancer
A study published in PLOS Medicine this week highlights a novel transcriptome-based classification of colon cancer that improves the current ...
Research Highlights Racial Disparities in the Surgical Management of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
A new study has indicated that the surgical management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in U.S. hospitals varies widely depending on the race of ...
Study: 2 Radiotherapy Treatments Show Similar Morbidity, Cancer Control After Prostatectomy
According to a study, use of the newer, more expensive intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and use of the older conformal radiotherapy (CRT) ...
- Health News Index
|
|
 | Quiz on Cancer Looking for information on cancer? Go through medindia's Cancer quiz. 
|
- News Quick Links
 |
Cancer
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Diagnosis Turns Complicated With SARS Virus Patent |
| » | Workers in Open Plan Offices Fall Sick More Often, Says Study |
| » | EU Struggles to Find Evidence Against Restaurants Serving Olive Oil in Jugs |
| » | Video Games Featuring Human-Like Enemy More Likely to Provoke Aggression |
| » | Regular Exposure to Both Wood and Tobacco Smoke Poses Greater Risk of COPD |
| More Life Style News | |
|
Ask an Expert
