A revolutionary tongue transplant surgery has been carried out in the Kingdom. The operation was performed on a 65-year-old cancer patient by a medical team at Asir Central Hospital here on Saturday. The supervisor general of the hospital Dr. Fuad Abbaq told SPA that “the team removed the man's tongue and cleaned the neck of all lymph nodes before conducting a cosmetic surgery.” “The tongue was then transplanted through a skin slice taken from the thigh and the arteries and veins were transferred from the thigh and connected to the tongue,” he added. The surgery was carried out by a medical team led by Head and Neck Consultant Dr. Saad Al-Qarni and Dr. Dhaifallah Al-Amri on Saturday. Dr. Merayyi' Al-Qahtani, Consultant Cosmetic Surgeon, praised “the medical team whose great efforts made the operation a success.” Al-Qahtani added that the radical operation was necessary “due to the advanced condition of the 65-year-old patient's cancer.” The man is continuing to receive medical care in the hospital.
