Salman Matan/ Dr. Gomoll Week 5


In this week, Monday and Tuesday were off days due to July 4th celebration. On Wednesday, I was in the OR with Dr. Jason Spector, and he performed three different surgeries. One of them was about facial grafts and facial nerve reconstruction. He first marked the jaw and lower abdomen for cutting. The patient has parotid cancer in the parotid gland and underwent x-ray therapy. The patient has a tumor removed and got nerve damage from the tumor removal surgery (radiation since he was getting 6 weeks per radiation) and that’s how long it takes the nerve to fully regrow in his jaw. After dr. Spector opened the skin, he separated the tissue from the skin. Collect fat from the lower abdomen for the graft, two 40 mL and they separated to got 18 mL after separation of the fluids. PTFA contains biosynthetic mesh to help retain the fat and it was FDA-approved for interpreting (to make the scar inside the abdomen heal fast), Dr. Spector is using it to heal the damaged nerve. 1 mm growth of nerve per day. This person has damage in his 5th nerve, that causes him to feel numbness and muscle atrophy when blinking, smiling, and eating. The surgery was successful, and Dr. Spector perform two more surgeries both of which were facial reconstructions. On Thursday and Friday, I was working in the biomechanics lab preparing a protocol for a total shoulder replacement sample that humorous was not fully underwent a CT scan but was cut in half in the scan. After I finish the protocol, we’ll use it to reconstruct the 3D shapes of the shoulder and test the rotation of the joint. 

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