As reported on the Lviv Regional Council website
In Lviv’s Okhmatdyt, Ukrainian and American doctors carried out a series of unique operations on children using 3D-printed implants.
«The ninth Reconstruction Mission – a joint Ukrainian-American mission of reconstructive surgery – took place at the KNP LOR ‘Center for Children’s Medicine. Okhmatdyt Hospital’. During it, doctors operated on children with congenital and acquired facial defects, using 3D-printed implants»
Course of the mission and results
Young patients from different regions of the country arrived in Lviv, including from areas where hostilities are ongoing. During the mission, doctors carried out six complex orthognathic and reconstructive operations, each lasting up to ten hours, in total 14 surgical interventions. The children were diagnosed with congenital and acquired facial defects, clefts of the lip and palate, deformities of the facial skeleton, postoperative defects, and other complex conditions requiring the use of innovative technologies.
The specialists prepared in advance: exchanging examinations with their American colleagues, performing computer modeling, and designing individual implants. In six cases, 3D printing technology was used to close bone defects.
Thus, a 10-year-old patient named Olya underwent resection of the maxilla and zygomatic bone, and the defect was closed with bioinert materials, restoring facial symmetry.
Another girl with hemifacial microsomia had the temporomandibular joint rebuilt from her own rib, and the upper and lower jaws were rebuilt – essentially creating a new face.
«Such interventions would be impossible without modern technologies. We sincerely thank the Belgian company Materialise – a leader in 3D printing and software for medical solutions, which produced 25 custom implants for our patients»
Today the children are undergoing postoperative care and preparing for rehabilitation. As a result of the mission, 50 consultations were held at the hospital and 30 consultations online. Twenty-five individual 3D implants were produced for the patients, costing from $7,000 to $10,000 each; for the children they were provided free of charge.
According to Roman Kizima, head of the Center for Children’s Medicine, this was an exchange of experience, knowledge, and technologies between Ukrainian and American specialists.
«We jointly seek solutions for the most complex clinical cases and implement unique approaches that previously seemed unattainable. For us, it’s important not just to operate – it’s important to develop Ukrainian medicine so that children can receive top-level care right at home»
The mission was implemented by the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine Charitable Foundation as part of the EduCare project in partnership with Ed’s Friends, Leap Global Missions, and Razom for Ukraine.
This collaboration between Ukrainian and American specialists opens new possibilities for the development of Ukrainian medicine and for providing children with the highest level of care at home.
Useful reading:
- Unique combined reconstructive surgery restored facial functions and aesthetics of a Ukrainian soldier injured by a mine explosion, showcasing advanced trauma and plastic surgery techniques.
- Ukrainian anesthesiologist Roman Sobko shares his wartime medical experiences, from postponed kidney transplant surgery to frontline emergency care and adapting back to civilian hospital work.
- Privacy concerns arise in Lviv after a listening device was found in Mayor Andriy Sadovyi’s office, prompting an investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine.
