Woman talks again after rare operation
Source: Agencies |
January 21, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A WOMAN is able to speak again after she had a operation to replace her voice box, her doctors said.
Brenda Charett Jensen, 52, reunited yesterday with the -international team of surgeons who performed the transplant last October. Jensen is only the second person in the world to have a successful larynx transplant.
Jensen damaged her vocal cords more than a decade ago after she repeatedly pulled out her breathing tube while under sedation in the hospital.
The operation last fall lasted 18 hours over two days. Doctors replaced her voice box, windpipe and thyroid gland with that of a donor who died in an accident. The surgery was led by doctors at the University of California, Davis Medical Center and -included experts from England and Sweden.
Two weeks after the transplant, Jensen voiced her first words in a hoarse tone: "Good morning," which was -followed by "I wanna go home" and "You guys are amazing" to her doctors.
Jensen has since been able to speak more easily, according to her doctors. She still breathes with the help of a tracheotomy tube and is relearning how to swallow. It will take some time before she can eat normally again.
UC Davis paid for much of Jensen's hospital-related expenses, which were not immediately disclosed. Doctors and staff donated their time.
In 1998, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic performed the world's first successful larynx transplant, restoring the voice of Timothy Heidler after a motorcycle accident.
Three years later, Heidler could speak with a normal voice, his surgeon said.
Brenda Charett Jensen, 52, reunited yesterday with the -international team of surgeons who performed the transplant last October. Jensen is only the second person in the world to have a successful larynx transplant.
Jensen damaged her vocal cords more than a decade ago after she repeatedly pulled out her breathing tube while under sedation in the hospital.
The operation last fall lasted 18 hours over two days. Doctors replaced her voice box, windpipe and thyroid gland with that of a donor who died in an accident. The surgery was led by doctors at the University of California, Davis Medical Center and -included experts from England and Sweden.
Two weeks after the transplant, Jensen voiced her first words in a hoarse tone: "Good morning," which was -followed by "I wanna go home" and "You guys are amazing" to her doctors.
Jensen has since been able to speak more easily, according to her doctors. She still breathes with the help of a tracheotomy tube and is relearning how to swallow. It will take some time before she can eat normally again.
UC Davis paid for much of Jensen's hospital-related expenses, which were not immediately disclosed. Doctors and staff donated their time.
In 1998, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic performed the world's first successful larynx transplant, restoring the voice of Timothy Heidler after a motorcycle accident.
Three years later, Heidler could speak with a normal voice, his surgeon said.
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