Throat Transplant in Poland Saves Man Who Has Cancer of the Voice Box

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A Polish surgeon saved a man's voice box after performing a rare transplant to fight off the advanced cancer in the area.

The 37-year-old man who received the transplant was identified only by the name Michal. He suffered from an advanced voice box cancer, a condition that rendered him unable to swallow, speak, and even breathe.

According to Inquisitr, Michal received a thyroid gland and windpipe transplant including the necessary muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and glands connected to the organs. The whole operation last April 11 took 17 hours to complete. The transplanted throat is expected to function properly once Michal recovers.

During the medical team's news conference at Gliwice's Oncology Center, Michal made an appearance and even whispered his gratitude. Salt Lake Tribune reports that the patient can now swallow liquefied food but Dr. Adam Maciejewski, the Polish surgeon who performed the operation, said that intensive rehabilitation is needed for the patient to "eat, breathe and speak just like we all do."

This is not the first odd organ transplant for Dr. Maciejewski. In 2013, he and his team did a 27-hour major face transplant involving the nose, cheeks, eye sockets, jaw, and skull on a 33-year-old patient. The Inquisitr reported that the man's face was involved in a stone-cutting machine accident. In the same year, Maciejewski performed another transplant on a woman who had a tumor that prevented her from talking, swallowing, or chewing.

A transplant surgeon, named Dr. Bo-Goran Ericzon of Sweden's Karolinska Hospital, verbalized that the transplant was "very unique and advanced, especially if the patient can to some extent produce voice and swallow." Many doctors around the world were impressed with Dr. Maciejewski's throat transplant operation. Numerous surgeons have attempted the surgery before but never so expansively.

The Swedish surgeon was not involved in the Polish transplant surgery. He also told the AP, via ABC News, that the surgeons "should be congratulated if they have succeeded." It is possible that even after completing the extensive procedure, Michal's body will reject the transplant or result into an infection.

The Salt Lake Tribune additionally reports that according to Dr. Maciejewski, no signs of recurrence were found on the throat transplant patient. The voice box operation was not Michal's first transplant. Before he was diagnosed in 2009 with advanced voice box cancer, he underwent a kidney transplant in 2001 and has been taking medication to avoid the rejection of his new kidney since then.