Page 2 - Tissue Expanders News Today

Time. i rolled him on his side and he went -- >> anias starts breathing and stabilizes for the rest of the trip. >> its what it was for anias. >> the flu, but so severe, it takes two months for anias to recover. only then can the painful journey toward separation begin. over the next five months, four operations. starting first in the front of the head. then side. then the back. during each operation, doctors carefully clip blood vessels and separate shared tissue. then the hardest and most pain...

>> thats what it was for anias? >> uh-huh. >> the flu. but so severe, it takes two months for anias to recover. only then can the painful journey towards separation begin. over the next five months, four operations. starting first in the front of the head, then the side, and then the back. during each operation, doctors carefully clip blood vessels and separate shared tissue. then the hardest and most painful surgery. tissue expanders like balloons are inserted and filled with water to create th...

Tissue expanders or balloons that ballooned up, and that gave us enough scalp to cover the children. >> the tissue, everything connected own worked after surgery, right? but we understand that one of the twins had a problem with his right arm? correct? >> both did when they woke up. this area that was conjoined here, we had to split through the brain. one child had a hemiplegia on one side. the other child had it on the opposite side. nine months later, both kids are movie ining both arms very w...

In the plan we had these through the different stages but when dr. good rich was to able to make the separation final process job of the plastic surgeon to get things covered. we need to cover the bone as well as the scalp. if you look at the model here what were able to use is the bone we had to go through to access. >> go ahead. >> the aires of division. but we had techniques to be able to split that divide that and create enough bone to use for both clirn gloo right. >> then for skap. scalp i...

It was ready to go. >> already the doctors have been able to use the most sophisticated medical models. here in surgery the boys are strapped to yet another device, a rotating operating table created specifically for this procedure, allowing doctors unprecedented access. >> what it allowed us to do was to say, okay, lets rotate. without physically lifting the children, without being concerned that one child was going to rotate more than the other. >> in addition, the custom-made table will split...

Gradually inflating them with saline, causing the skin to stretch. >> guess what? its too big. >> five tissue expanders are inserted under their skin near the crown of each of their heads. >> and one of the critical issues for these children is to have a complete tissue seal of both heads. so this is -- these maneuvers long term are critical in determining their outcome. ♪ happy birthday to you >> two months after the tissue expanders were put in, the boys happily celebrate their second birthd...

Said, i want that. im going to take good care of him, like he is my own boy. >> reporter: dr. grossman let me scrub in to observe. he showed me how he hopes to undo much of what an unspeakably cruel act has done to this boy. >> well be exciting this thickened scar tissue around here. >> reporter: he planned to remove scar tissue from around the nose and insert tissue expanders, small balloons under the healthy skin in the cheek and neck. over time, dr. grossman hoped to stretch the healthy skin ...

Scrub in to observe. he showed me how he hopes to undo much of what an unspeakablely cruel act has done to this boy. >> well be exciting this thickened scar tissue around here. >> reporter: he planned to remove scar tissue from around the nose and insert tissue expanders, small balloons under the healthy skin in the cheek and neck. over time, dr. grossman hoped to stretch the healthy skin so it could replace the heavy scars on the chin, jawline, and next to his ear. >> reporter: now its time to ...

Gradually inflating them with saline, causing the skin to stretch. >> guess what? its too big. >> five tissue expanders are inserted under their skin near the crown of each of their heads. >> and one of the critical issues for these children is to have a complete tissue seal of both heads. so this is -- these maneuvers long term are critical in determining their outcome. ♪ happy birthday to you >> two months after the tissue expanders were put in, the boys happily celebrate their 2nd birthday,...

Be done and no more planning. it was ready to go. >> already the doctors have been able to use the most sophisticated medical models. here in surgery the boys are strapped to yet another device, a rotating operating table created specifically for this procedure, allowing doctors unprecedented access. >> what it allowed us to do was to say, okay, lets rotate. without physically lifting the children, without being concerned that one child was going to rotate more than the other. >> in addition, th...