A bone from the lower leg was transplanted into the jaw: surgeons in Lviv performed an extremely complex operation for the first time – News

In Lviv, surgeons performed an extremely complex microsurgical operation for the first time

Center “Unbreakable”

For the first time, Ukrainian maxillofacial surgeons performed a complex microsurgical operation to reconstruct the lower jaw without the help of foreign colleagues.

The patient was 25-year-old Andriy from the Kherson region, who defended Ukraine from the first days of his adulthood, the Nezlamni rehabilitation center reported.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Andrii served in Donetsk region. On March 12, 2022, a fragment of a Russian projectile tore off half of his face. The comrades managed to stop the massive bleeding and evacuate the seriously wounded soldier.

“It was an ordinary day at the front. We held positions and watched the enemy. At the time when it flew in, I was looking through binoculars. The blast wave stunned me. I could not speak, could not orient myself in space, did not even understand what had happened”, Andrii says.

The fragment knocked out part of the lower jaw bone and teeth. Because of this, the defender could not fully eat – chew and eat solid food.

At first, the soldier was given a titanium implant instead of bone, but it did not take root.

Therefore, doctors decided to replace the missing fragment with his own bone.

“This is one of the most difficult operations in maxillofacial surgery. After all, in order for the bone to take root, it is necessary to connect a bunch of small vessels – as thick as a human hair. Our specialists together with the American colleagues of the Face to Face mission. such microsurgical interventions have already been successfully performed more than once”– noted in the Nezlamni center.

The surgeons used the acquired experience and for the first time performed an extremely complex operation without the participation of foreign colleagues. They transplanted part of the tibia, along with muscles and blood vessels, into the defender’s jaw.

Then the specialists sutured all the vessels and “closed” the wound with a flap of the patient’s skin. A complex microsurgical operation lasted 14 hours.

“Life is a very expensive thing, especially when you understand it when you are on the verge of life and death. That is why I do not want to remove scars and polish the scar, so as not to forget the value of every moment“, says the defender.

We will remind you that we visited operations within the framework of the third Face to Face mission, during which Ukrainian specialists learned from colleagues from the USA how to perform complex reconstructive operations. In particular, to transplant bones and nerves from other parts of the body to the face in order to restore functionality and aesthetic appearance.