the Eve procedure

Updated 3/2017-- all links (except to my own posts) removed as many are no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

Earlier this week I stumbled across the news of a 12 yo boy with a bone tumor involving his mandible.  Pediatric plastic surgeon Rohit Khosla, MD, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and his team performed a new procedure believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.

The procedure originally described by a team in Belgium has been nicknamed "the Eve procedure."   The procedure involves transplanting a rib along with its blood vessels and attach this circulation to an artery and vein in the neck.

It is hoped that as the young boy continues to grow, the transplanted bone will do so also.

The boy’s tumor was a chondromyxoid fibroma,  a non-malignant bone tumor that usually occurs in the limbs and feet.  In this case, it occurred in the boy’s mandible.  Removal involved  about a third of the patient's jaw bone, the section extending forward from the temporomandibular joint near his right ear.

Since the family wanted the boy’s identity protected, there are no photos to be found to show you.  I wish him well as he heals and grows into a young man.

 

 

REFERENCE

The "Eve" Procedure: The Transfer of Vascularized Seventh Rib, Fascia, Cartilage, and Serratus Muscle to Reconstruct Difficult Defects; Guelinckx, P. J.; Sinsel, N. K.; Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. 97(3):527-535, March 1996.