Cancer Patient Receives World's First Skull & Scalp Transplant

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A man from Texas received the world's first skull and scalp transplant after his cancer treatment left him with a large head wound.

Jim Boysen, 55, a software developer from Austin, TX, underwent a 15-hour-long surgery on May 22 at the Houston Methodist Hospital. In addition to the partial skull and scalp transplant, he also received a new kidney and pancreas.

"I couldn't get the transplant surgery that I needed for the organs without fixing my scalp," Boysen told CBS. "But I couldn't fix my scalp with the failure of my organs. I was between a rock and a hard place."

Boysen was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 5 years old; he had had to undergo a kidney and pancreas transplantation in 1992 to offset the serious complications brought by his childhood disease. The immunosuppressant drugs he took to prevent organ rejection made him develop leiomyosarcoma in 2006.

Leiomyosarcoma is a rare form of cancer that affects smooth muscle cells found in involuntary muscles such as in the uterus, intestines, skin, and in Boysen's case, his scalp. The chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment he received for his cancer was too aggressive that it destroyed his scalp and skull, exposing his brain, the BBC has learned.

The immunosuppressant drugs that Boysen was taking rendered the doctors unable to perform the transplant because it reduced his body's ability to heal. Instead of the usual simple bone graft or artificial implant, the doctors at MD Anderson, led by Dr. Jesse Selber, planned to implant a partial skull and scalp from a human donor and transplant a new kidney and pancreas at the same time.

The operation involved many health care workers including more than 10 doctors. Dr. Selber said that Boysen was given a skull and scalp transplant that covered "the entire top half of the head."

"When I first met Jim, I made the connection between him needing a new kidney and pancreas and the ongoing anti-rejection medication to support them, and receiving a full scalp and skull transplant at the same time that would be protected by those same medications," Dr. Selber said.

"This was a truly unique clinical situation that created the opportunity to perform this complex transplant," Dr. Selber added.

Boysen was amazed and grateful to the doctors who performed his surgery. He even joked that because of his new scalp, he now has "way more hair than when [I] he was 21."

Reuters has learned that Boysen was set to leave on Thursday to recover from the surgery in the confines of his home.