German Man incubates replacement Jawbone
News in Science - Replacement jawbone grown on patient’s back - 27/08/2004
The surgeons carried out a 3D computer scan of the patient’s face to build a small cage of titanium mesh, shaped to act as a substitute for the missing jaw.
The cage was filled with tiny blocks of bone mineral and seeded with a human bone protein and liquid bone marrow, then transplanted into the latissimus dorsi muscle in the patient’s back, just under his shoulder.
Seven weeks later, filled with fresh-grown bone, the cage was removed from his back, along with a piece of the adjoining muscle, an artery and a vein. The assemblage was then transplanted into his face.
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