Week 2 - More Surgeries!

16 June 2014

Mondays are usually reserved for Dr. Spector’s office hours, so we spent the day in the lab discussing lab projects, all of which has the overall goal of making tissue engineered constructs with vasculature. We brainstormed for a bit to help with specific issues each project has encountered. It was interesting to see how much we know about the subject area even after one year of courses and researching.

17 June 2014

Another long (~10 hour) case today. The patient has tumors all over her left mouth area, and the procedure called for the removal of the left mandible and replaced by a fibula flap. Like many long surgeries I’ve observed, two teams worked simultaneously—the ENT on the neck area for tumor removal and the plastics team to prep the fibula flap.

Additionally, we performed a quick round on previous patients, such as the old women from last week. It was interesting to see how Dr. Spector and Peter interacted with the patients (it seemed like a tough-love approach).

18 June 2014

We observed only one surgery today, which was the removal of a keloid from the patient’s head. Interestingly, this patient needed a kidney transplant, but because keloids can become infected, he is ineligible for a transplant unless the keloid was removed. Generally, keloids are removed for cosmetic reasons, but in his case, it was a medical one.

I also met with Dr. Skubas (props to Ashley for hooking it up) to talk about 3D printed heart valves. The meeting was brief and introductory, but I was invited to the OR next Wednesday to observe and see if a possible collaboration is possible.

19 June 2014

We finally observed some out-patients during Dr. Spector’s office hours.

1. Botox injections into patient’s armpits to reduce sweating. It was interesting to hear Dr. Spector’s professional opinion of Botox. I mean, Botox seems to have a negative connotation attached to its name, but it can honestly help some patients—if they are able to pay for the treatment. (It costs like $600/bottle! And that’s the doctor’s price.)
2. Consultation of possible DIEP flap procedure for breast reconstruction. That was the amount of information I gathered since we weren’t allowed in the room, which was understandable since the patient didn’t seem comfortable. Dr. Spector immediately read her face when she was asked.
3. Quick removal of a cyst and skin lesion and stitching up the ear.
4. Check up on a woman who had tripped and had a glass shard cut her in the neck and injuring her nerves. She was very lucky that the glass didn’t hit any major arteries or else she could have bled to death within a minute. She received a collagen nerve graft and was seemingly regaining function of her lower lips.

 20 June 2014

I started the morning by observing a very quick surgery to fix a patient’s fractured nose. Nothing too exciting here—it seemed very routine for the doctors in the room.

Afterwards, I went into lab and talked more about the projects. I’m pretty much set on working with the decellularization of the skin flap project, but I also want to help out with 3D printing of vascular networks once I get back to Cornell.