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Diagnostic Dilemma: A Surgeon Accidentally Transplanted a Tumor Into His Own Hand
LIVESCIENCE ^ | Mindy Weisberger

Posted on 01/02/2025 6:14:12 PM PST by nickcarraway

In an unusual case, a surgeon developed a cancerous lump on his hand that stemmed from an injury he sustained while performing surgery.

The patient: A 53-year-old man in Germany

The symptoms: A surgeon developed swelling in his left hand near the base of his middle finger. This was the site of an injury he sustained five months earlier while removing a patient's malignant abdominal tumor. The lump in the surgeon's hand measured 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) in diameter.

What happened next: The surgeon had the lump removed, and an analysis revealed that it was a cancerous fibrous histiocytoma, a type of tumor containing histiocytes — immune cells that migrate into tissues where they don't belong and then form tumorous growths. It was the same type of tumor that the surgeon had been removing at the time of his hand injury. According to a report of the case published in 1996, a pathologist who examined both people's tumors wondered if the pair were as identical as they appeared.

The diagnosis: It turned out that the surgeon had accidentally transplanted some of the patient's tumor into his hand. Researchers collected samples of both tumors, isolated their DNA and conducted a genetic analysis. They found that the tumors not only had similar cellular compositions but were also genetically identical. When the scientists compared the samples to an unrelated histiocytoma, they confirmed that the first two tumors were indistinguishable from each other and "clearly distinct" from the third.

During that prior operation on the abdominal tumor, the surgeon had nicked his palm. The wound was immediately cleaned and bandaged, but the appearance of an identical tumor in his hand months later suggested that the surgeon had accidentally transplanted cells from the patient's malignant growth into his body.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: cancer; medicine; surgery; surgwery
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To: reasonisfaith

Maybe so, but this “doctor” would’ve been exposed for sure, considering how lousy his technique is/was. Maybe he has tremors? He shouldn’t been doing tumor surgery.

Time to retire, doc!


21 posted on 01/02/2025 7:27:28 PM PST by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: nickcarraway

Decades ago, ordinary people acted as if cancer was contagious. Maybe they knew more than the “experts” of today.


22 posted on 01/02/2025 9:15:52 PM PST by PghBaldy (12/14/12 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: nickcarraway

Sounds like a shit surgeon


23 posted on 01/02/2025 11:34:25 PM PST by enumerated (81 million votes my ass)
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To: enumerated
Sounds like a shit surgeon

Nah, he got cancer, not e. coli…

24 posted on 01/03/2025 4:41:07 AM PST by IncPen ("Inside of every progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out" ~ David Horowitz)
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