Treatment at Hadassah allows ‘tree man’ to finally live a normal life
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Rare, painful, and incurable skin condition
A pioneering treatment at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, is giving a man who suffers from a very rare, painful, and incurable skin condition known as ‘Tree Man Syndrome’ a chance to live a normal life.
Treating and ultimately saving the man’s hands, has been a long process — and it isn’t over yet. In four operations since 2017, doctors have removed thousands of lesions from his hands and other parts of his body caused by HPV, human papillomavirus – the same virus that causes common warts. The man suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV)—an incurable, inherited disorder, which results from being chronically infected by HPV. This leads to unusual bark-like growths on the hands and other body parts. As a result of these lesions—which can cause pain—the condition is sometimes described as “tree man syndrome.” To date, there have only been around 200 cases of EV reported in the medical literature and thus research on the disease is relatively limited. As a result, there is no clear protocol for treating the disease. One of the preferred options is to remove the lesions via surgery. However, this is not entirely effective because they tend to grow back. In this case, the patient was unable to use his hands due to the growths.
Michael Chernofsky, an orthopedic surgeon at Hadassah who is overseeing the treatment, told Newsweek that the patient’s symptoms surprised him when he first became aware of the case. “Over the course of my 30-year career as a specialist in hand surgery, I have seen my share of challenging cases,” he said. “The case of M.T., however, was something that I had never before seen.” “M.T. initially presented to me about 2 years ago.
We were his last hope.
He had seen doctors throughout the Middle East and was told that nothing could be done to help him other than amputation,” Chernofsky said. “He had been suffering from his condition for more than 10 years.
He had lived with severe chronic pain. He could not use his left hand at all, and movement in his right hand was limited.
He was embarrassed to be seen in public. He could not work. He could not play with his children. Ultimately, we still need to find a vaccine or curative immunologic treatment for him in order to repair his deficient immune system.”
“After years of suffering and solitude, I can finally live a normal life,” said the patient. “Doctors in Egypt and Jordan recommended amputation, but my Hadassah doctors say amputation is not a solution. They do not give up on me.
I will be having my 5th surgery later this summer. I consider myself a winner.
Photo caption: Dr. Michael Chernofsky at Hadassah University Medical Center with his patient.
For more than 100 years, Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem (www.hadassah-med.com) has been a leader in medicine and nursing in Israel, laying the foundation and setting the standards for the country’s modern health care system. The majority of medical breakthroughs in Israel have taken place there. With more than 130 departments and clinics, Hadassah-Ein Kerem provides Israel’s most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic services for the local and national population and a significant number of international patients.
iMER (International Medical Evaluation and Referrals) is a Worldwide Health Services Provider and the exclusive representative of Hadassah University Hospital in Greece and Cyprus, offering healthcare services in the most technologically and medically advanced centers in several countries all over the world and treatments that cannot be found elsewhere, by medical scientists that are pioneers in their field of specialization.
