Innovative Solutions
to Modern Problems
Multifaceted surgical capacity building with our Penn Medicine partners.
Telemedical Approaches
As a result of the war, the wounds now seen by Ukrainian health professionals are both substantial and unique in terms of bone and tissue damage.
Simply stated, Ukrainian trauma specialists and surgeons – although incredibly skilled in their respective disciplines – are not optimally trained to effectively manage these cases.
Importantly, the result of effective care in these settings often means the difference between limb salvage vs loss and at times life vs death.
The goal of this programming is to develop regional experts in new surgical techniques and build surgical capacity within Ukraine.
In direct coordination with our primary partner Penn Medicine we have established a collaborative project between Penn specialists in trauma, orthopedic surgery, and microvascular surgery with the administration and surgeons at a regional hospitals.
This project took the form of individual case reviews with practical guidance in treatment plans by Penn physicians. The joint teams have met regularly since the beginning of the war. More recently the partnership has been expanded to include additional hospitals.
Similarly, the scope of cases reviewed has expanded to include both adult and pediatric patients, and care management scenarios in rehabilitation, gastroenterology, neonatology, infectious disease, and neurosurgery.
Surgical Education
While this effort provides great value, the current limiting challenge lies in improving the clinical/technical competency of the Ukrainian surgeons – this especially in the domain of bone and aligned tissue repair via microvascular surgery to support the long term needs of late-stage reconstructive surgical expertise.
To effectively accomplish these objectives, a 3-Stage approach was adopted and remains active:
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Making tiered decisions on sequential treatment in wound salvage and repair.
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Building expertise in soft tissue flap repair for preserving limb function and minimizing infection.
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Performing basic microvascular techniques to restore tissue and limb integrity as best as possible.
This effort has established a close working bond between faculty at Penn Medicine and multiple of our fellow Ukrainian ground partner institutions – a relationship that we sincerely hope to grow in the years to come.