Restructuring hope

In a remarkable feat, Sunshine Hospitals used the leg bone to reconstruct the lower jaw of a 21-year Somalian bomb blast victim.

A team of maxillofacial surgeons led by Dr Dinesh Sharma performed the complicated surgery on Mohamed Ahmed Ulasow the victim in the December 2015 blasts.

Chief maxillofacial surgeon, Dr Dinesh Sharma said, “Due to the loss of lower jaw, the patient was unable to perform regular functions to the extent that he was unable to sleep, as the tongue falls back while sleeping.

He was dependent on nasal tube for feeding. After performing the tests, we spoke to the family and explained about micro vascular reconstruction of the lower jaw using a bone from his leg.

“With their consent along with a team that included Dr Suresh PL and Dr Navatha, the lower jaw was reconstructed in an eight hour long surgery.

We retrieved the fibula from his left leg along with blood vessels, reshaped it to replicate mandible, fixed it in place and connected it to the regional blood vessels,” he explained and added,

“The advantage of this procedure is that we can implant artificial teeth into the bone later to help him chew normally.” Although micro vascular reconstruction of mandible is not a recent advancement, its use in a bomb blast victim is quite complicated.

It poses a significant challenge to the surgeon as the tissues are shattered due to the blast intensity, making identification of tissue planes and healthy blood vessels difficult. However, the surgery was done smoothly and the patient recovered in only 10 days.