In the children’s burn department of the First Medical Association of Lviv, the leg of a boy who was run over by a truck was saved from amputation. For the second time in the history of Ukrainian medicine, doctors transplanted skin to a child from a posthumous donor. And for the first time, the wounds were closed with an expensive synthetic polymer.
Kyrylo Shulga from Lviv Oblast became a unique patient. Last year in October, a 17-year-old boy was injured in a road accident. He was walking past a truck parked by the road, when it suddenly moved from its place and ran over the boy. Unconscious and in serious condition, the child was taken to the St. Nicholas Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv.
Kyrylo suffered a concussion, a fracture and an injury to his knee. There was missing skin on a large area of the surface of the leg, and there was also a deep wound. There was a risk of amputation. The doctors did everything possible to save the limb. The wound was cleaned, dead tissue was removed, and skin was transplanted from a posthumous donor. Thus, Kyrylo became the second child in Ukraine to be treated with this technology.
The treatment lasted for months. During another operation for excision and plastic surgery, burn surgeons faced a new challenge. Due to the trauma, the anatomy of the patient’s leg changed – the nerves were located too close to the surface of the skin. There was a threat that Kirill would be tormented by unbearable pain in the future. To prevent this, doctors dared to apply a revolutionary technology – BTM coating. This is an artificial synthetic material that has not yet been used in Ukraine.
“This coating is like a sponge, it is placed on the wound and it grows with the patient’s own blood vessels, becoming his new dermis. It remains with him forever. This material is very valuable, which is why it is not available in Ukraine. And it was given to us by the Americans as a humanitarian aid,” says care surgeon Lesya Strelka.
The revolutionary technology worked. The nerves were closed. In general, in order to save Kirill’s leg, he underwent more than 20 operations. The treatment continued throughout his senior year, during which the boy’s mother still dreamed of dancing with her son at graduation. And this wish came true.
Now Kirill is already 18. His rehabilitation continues. The leg was saved, but the knee still needs to be developed.
In order to better treat and put patients like Kyrylo back on their feet, the children’s burn department of the First Medical Association of Lviv needs a modern laser for grinding scars. The charitable platform dobro.ua helps the medical institution to collect for such a device. The project is called “Children’s Hope: Helping Children with Burns”. You can make your contribution at the link: https://dobro.ua/project/kyivstar/.
We will remind you that the first operation to transplant skin from a posthumous donor was performed in Lviv in April this year. The patient was a one-year-old boy.