This is the 7th day of the trip which started on 5/13/13. I haven't written before today because we have been so busy. Patients are coming from all over Nigeria. When we first arrived there were 46 patients waiting for surgery and they keep arriving! We have done 65 cases so far yet there are still 42 patients waiting for their turn!
Today we did an enormous facial tumor. I suspect that this patient has fibrous dysplasia of the maxilla which is benign; however, it is not so benign in this case! Removing a tumor this large is formidable. Before starting the procedure we performed a tracheostomy. Although the tumor destroyed the maxilla, the orbital walls were intact. After the resection, we packed the wound and will return in 48 hours to do a temporalis muscle flap. We will have more pictures then.
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| Radical maxillectomy specimen |
