January 23, 2019 – New from Valsad

The momentum of the hospital staff and the Op Med team continues to grow.  Tuesday’s case list was huge and there were several add-ons including a new baby girl delivered by c-section around 3:30pm.  We feel so blessed to be the “Welcome to the World” committee for this precious infant.  Our total case count at the end of a very long day was 46.

Of interest Tuesday: We saw a patient that Dr. David Leber (Harrisburg, PA) performed a first stage ear reconstruction on during Operation Medical’s Valsad 2014 surgery camp.  During the initial stage, cartilage was taken from the ribs and used to create a three-dimensional sculpture that looks like a normal ear.  The cartilage framework is then placed under the skin at the site of the newly placed ear, to match the opposite ear.  Autologous ear reconstruction requires multiple surgical stages.

Dr. Kenneth Arthur (Lancaster, PA) will perform the second stage.  During this stage of reconstruction, the new ear framework is elevated off the side of the head to match the natural position of a normal ear. This stage may require the use of a flap of tissue (fascia) from the area just below the scalp or a skin graft to cover the raised framework. Dr. Arthur will take a full thickness skin graft from the patient’s groin.

Ear reconstruction surgery is considered one of the most challenging plastic surgery procedures. This type of ear surgery is requested by two main groups of patients: those who have a underdeveloped ear at birth (a condition known as microtia) and those who have lost a normal ear through trauma, disease or accident. For our patient, this was an under-developed ear at birth.  We will highlight this surgery in our full trip report which will be published some time after the conclusion of the mission.

Our team is healthy and working hard.  Thanks for coming along with us to provide global healthcare!