Chinese surgeons in Hebei  Province carried out a transplant operation successfully to restore the  tongue of a cancer patient using a skin flap taken from her forearm recently.

    Liu ， a woman who had suffered from late carcinoma of tongue （tongue  cancer） for years， has a new tongue and can speak clearly after the  operation.

    The operation ， the first of its kind in the province， was done  by doctors from the Bethune International Peace Hospital in Shijiazhuang，  capital of Hebei.

    Under general anesthesia， the surgeons first cut off the affected  part， consisting of three-quaters of the patient's tongue，then they  took a six-by-five cm skin flap from the patient's left forearm to repair  the tongue.

    Many cases of success in replanting organs like fingers ， ears and  tongues for patients were reported this year in China. Early this February  a female patient's tongue was repaired in central China Hunan province，  by using a skin flap taken from her stomach.