The Maxillofacial Surgery Department at Coimbra’s Local Health Unit (ULS) has performed its first Le Fort III facial disjunction surgery. This twelve-hour intricate operation was successfully conducted on a 16-year-old girl suffering from Crouzon Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes multiple craniofacial malformations, leading to functional, respiratory, and facial harmony deficits.
“This surgery allowed for the mobilization of the facial skeleton, followed by the application of an external osteogenic distraction system,” said Leonor Barroso, the Director of the Maxillofacial Surgery Department at ULS Coimbra, in a statement on Saturday.
She further explained that “the procedure was meticulously planned in a three-dimensional digital environment, enabling greater precision in the surgical approach and the definition of the necessary bone advancement, using fixation devices adapted to the patient’s morphology.”
Meanwhile, Alexandre Lourenço, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ULS Coimbra, noted that “the successful execution of this complex surgery marks a significant milestone for ULS Coimbra, enhancing the institution’s ability to provide differentiated and highly specialized care in pediatric maxillofacial surgery, which previously required treatment abroad.”
“The Maxillofacial Surgery team deserves congratulations on this technical and human achievement, which reinforces the National Health Service’s commitment to innovation, outstanding care, and scientific progress for the benefit of patients,” he added.
ULS Coimbra comprises eight hospital units and 26 health centers, dedicated to providing “integrated, high-quality, and patient-centered healthcare.”
“With an unwavering commitment to innovation and quality, ULS Coimbra works daily to enhance the health and well-being of the community it serves,” the institution asserted in the same statement.
On a national level, the healthcare institution emphasized its “decisive contribution to the development of healthcare delivery, medical education, research, and innovation,” as well as providing extensive care, being the “entity with the largest patient base,” and differentiation as being the “entity with the most national centers of reference and part of European reference networks.”
In addition to these achievements, ULS Coimbra highlighted its contributions to pre- and postgraduate medical education, boasting the “largest advanced medical training program in the country,” as well as in clinical research, with the “highest number of article publications and citations,” and innovation, with the “largest acquisition of competitive funding.”
