FOR OU HEALTH’S OPERATION UKRAINE PROGRAM. EVERY SECOND DAY WE RECEIVE A NEW AMOUNT OF PATIENTS WOUNDED PATIENTS FROM ANOTHER HOSPITAL FROM THE WHOLE UKRAINE. SO SO THE NUMBER OF WOUNDED PEOPLE IS HUGE. IT’S BEEN ALMOST TWO YEARS TO THE DAY THAT RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE. THESE UKRAINIAN MILITARY SURGEONS HAVE BEEN HERE IN OKC THIS MONTH LEARNING NEW SURGICAL TECHNIQUES TO TREAT WARTIME CASUALTIES, TO RECOVERY. ALL THE WOUNDS AFTER THE HUGE MINE BLAST IN SURGERY OR GUNSHOTS. DOCTOR TOLD ME IN THE LAST TWO YEARS HE’S WORKED WITHOUT WEEKENDS OFF AND THE END GAME IS TO TRAIN OTHER SURGEONS BACK IN LVIV TO DO FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY. PATIENTS WHO CAN’T TALK OR EVEN SWALLOW IN SOME CASES MAKING A NEW DEPARTMENT WHICH WILL BE ABLE TO TREAT THE PATIENTS WITH HUGE TRAUMA. FACE, FACE TRAUMA INTO TRAUMA AND AND REPAIR IT. 80 TO 90% OF THE PATIENTS THAT THEY ARE SEEING ARE BLAST RELATED. THAT’S ROCKETS, MINES AS MISSILE HITS AND THE REST ARE BULLET INJURIES SUCH AS SNIPER BULLETS. THIS IS THE KEY TO THIS TRAINING HELPING THE UKRAINIAN DOCTORS. THESE GLASSES, THEY PROVIDE A FIRST PERSON VIEW OF WHAT THE SURGEON SEES SO THEY CAN CALL OU HEALTH DOCTORS FOR HELP FROM UKRAINE. IF THEY’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A TOUGH SURGERY. THESE ARE SURGICAL GLASSES THAT WILL LIVE STREAM SURGERIES. SO THESE HAVE BEEN DONATED TO THE UKRAINIAN SURGEONS. THEY’LL TAKE THEM BACK WITH THEM. YOU CAN THINK OF IT LIKE A MEDICAL ZOOM CALL WHERE DOCTORS CAN TALK TO EACH OTHER. WE WILL BE ABLE TO BE IN THEIR EAR, SEE WHAT THEY’RE SEEING, TALK THEM THROUGH ANY DIFFICULT AREAS THAT THEY MAY HAVE. IN ADDITION, WE CAN CAPTURE STILL IMAGES, DRAW DIAGRAMS. BUT THE WAR IS RELENTLESS. AND WHILE THEY’RE IN THIS FOR THE LONG HAUL, DOCTOR SENIUK FEARS THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. MY MIND IS JUST STARTING. WE WILL HAVE A GREAT PROBLEM. I THINK MAYBE THIS YEAR AND PROBABLY NEXT FIVE YEARS.
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Ukrainian doctors in a U.S. city learning new techniques, using new technology for reconstructive surgery
Military surgeons from Ukraine are in Oklahoma City learning new techniques after the country’s hospitals see an influx of patients with head and neck injuries
Updated: 7:29 PM EST Feb 25, 2024
Since the war broke out in Ukraine, the country’s hospitals have seen an overwhelming influx of patients with head and neck injuries.Military surgeons from the country are in Oklahoma City learning new techniques for reconstructive surgery with the help of some new technology.”Every second day, we receive a new amount of patients, wounded patients, from another hospital from the whole of Ukraine. So, the number of wounded people is huge,” said Mykola Sinuk, M.D. at Lviv Military Hospital in Ukraine.It has been almost two years to the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. These Ukranian military surgeons have been in OKC this month learning new surgical techniques to treat wartime casualties.”To recover all the wounds after a huge mine blast injury, or gunshots,” Sinuk said. Sinuk said in the last two years, he has worked without weekends off and the end game is to train other surgeons back in Lviv to do facial reconstruction surgery for patients who can’t talk or even swallow in some cases.”Making a new department, where we will be able to treat the patients with huge face trauma, ENT trauma, and repair it,” Sinuk said.The key to the training to help Ukrainian doctors are the high-tech glasses.”Eighty to ninety percent of the patients they’re seeing are blast-related, that’s rockets, mines, missile hits. And the rest are bullet injuries, such as sniper bullets,” said Dr. Mark Mims, M.D. at OU Health.The surgical glasses provide a first-person view of what the surgeon sees so they can call OU Health doctors for help from Ukraine if they’re in the middle of a tough surgery. “These are surgical glasses that will livestream surgeries, so these have been donated to the Ukrainian surgeons, they’ll take them back with them,” Mims said.It is similar to a medical Zoom call where doctors can talk to each other.”We will be able to be in their ear, seeing what they’re seeing, talk them through any difficult areas they may have. We can also capture still images, draw diagrams,” Mims said.The war is relentless and while they’re in it for the long haul, Sinuk fears this is just the beginning.”In my mind, it is just starting. We will have a great problem, I think, maybe this year, and in the next five years,” Sinuk said.Sister station KOCO was told the doctors will return to Ukraine next month.Learn more and hear from the doctors in the video player above.
Since the war broke out in Ukraine, the country’s hospitals have seen an overwhelming influx of patients with head and neck injuries.
Military surgeons from the country are in Oklahoma City learning new techniques for reconstructive surgery with the help of some new technology.
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“Every second day, we receive a new amount of patients, wounded patients, from another hospital from the whole of Ukraine. So, the number of wounded people is huge,” said Mykola Sinuk, M.D. at Lviv Military Hospital in Ukraine.
It has been almost two years to the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. These Ukranian military surgeons have been in OKC this month learning new surgical techniques to treat wartime casualties.
“To recover all the wounds after a huge mine blast injury, or gunshots,” Sinuk said.
Sinuk said in the last two years, he has worked without weekends off and the end game is to train other surgeons back in Lviv to do facial reconstruction surgery for patients who can’t talk or even swallow in some cases.
“Making a new department, where we will be able to treat the patients with huge face trauma, ENT trauma, and repair it,” Sinuk said.
The key to the training to help Ukrainian doctors are the high-tech glasses.
“Eighty to ninety percent of the patients they’re seeing are blast-related, that’s rockets, mines, missile hits. And the rest are bullet injuries, such as sniper bullets,” said Dr. Mark Mims, M.D. at OU Health.
The surgical glasses provide a first-person view of what the surgeon sees so they can call OU Health doctors for help from Ukraine if they’re in the middle of a tough surgery.
“These are surgical glasses that will livestream surgeries, so these have been donated to the Ukrainian surgeons, they’ll take them back with them,” Mims said.
It is similar to a medical Zoom call where doctors can talk to each other.
“We will be able to be in their ear, seeing what they’re seeing, talk them through any difficult areas they may have. We can also capture still images, draw diagrams,” Mims said.
The war is relentless and while they’re in it for the long haul, Sinuk fears this is just the beginning.
“In my mind, it is just starting. We will have a great problem, I think, maybe this year, and in the next five years,” Sinuk said.
Sister station KOCO was told the doctors will return to Ukraine next month.
Learn more and hear from the doctors in the video player above.
