Dr. Patrick Carpenter (left), a surgeon with Sutter West Bay Medical Group, conducts a preoperative exam during a recent surgical mission to Ukraine.
Sutter Health surgeon helps patients recover from devastating injuries in Ukraine
When patients with severe conditions of the head and neck have nowhere else to turn, Dr. Patrick Carpenter steps in. Since joining Sutter Health’s new head and neck surgery program in San Francisco last year, Carpenter, a head and neck surgeon with Sutter West Bay Medical Group, has taken on some of the most advanced cancer cases, often helping patients who cannot access treatment anywhere else.
That same drive to care for the most complex cases recently took Carpenter far beyond the Bay Area. Last November, he was one of four American surgeons who traveled to war-torn Ukraine on a surgical mission organized by the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine in partnership with MedCAD, a Dallas, Texas-based medical innovation company. The team treated military and civilian patients traumatically injured in the ongoing war.
Models created by MedCAD help surgeons plan life-changing procedures.
The “Vision for Ukraine” mission paired U.S. specialists with Ukrainian surgeons. Together, they reconstructed faces of patients with severe injuries using 3D-printed custom implants designed and donated by MedCAD. The long-term goal is to equip Ukrainian surgical teams with the skills and tools to manage complex cases independently.
Carpenter joined the mission through his colleague, Dr. Stuart Seiff, an oculoplastic surgeon at Sutter’s CPMC who has participated in multiple medical missions to Ukraine. Within weeks of discussing how his expertise in traumatic facial reconstruction and microvascular surgery could help, Carpenter committed to join Seiff, surgeon Dr. Jorge Corona, a Dallas-based oculoplastic surgeon, and Dr. John Frodel, a maxillofacial surgeon, in Ukraine.
“Watching what was happening in Ukraine, I didn’t feel like I had a voice or a way to help,” Dr. Carpenter says. “This is a skill set I have, and it was an easy decision to go help people who are suffering. I was also inspired by Dr. Seiff and other surgeons who have been to Ukraine and gone back multiple times over the past two years to help.”
The team traveled with Nancy Hairston, MedCAD’s President and CEO. Hairston’s team creates advanced surgical planning software that allows surgeons to plan complex procedures with precise cutting guides for custom implants tailored to each patient. MedCAD donated all virtual surgical planning for the trip, which made patient-specific implants possible for 40 to 50 patients.
Carpenter lends his expertise to a complicated facial reconstruction surgery in Ukraine.
Operating in an active war zone posed significant challenges, from limited resources to unfamiliar operating rooms. Hairston says Carpenter faced every obstacle with focus and calm.
“I was in awe witnessing Dr. Carpenter’s skill, tenacity and care for these patients who were severely injured,” Hairston recalls. “Coming into the operating theater, in an unfamiliar environment, with limited equipment and OR resources to perform intense and complex microvascular surgery would rattle the majority of clinicians, but Patrick persevered and succeeded in giving the patients the best possible outcome under these trying circumstances.”
The patients ranged from children to adults, with Carpenter contributing his expertise in microvascular flap surgery – an advanced surgical technique where healthy tissue like skin, muscle or bone and their blood vessels are transferred from one part of the body to the other – to help adults requiring head and neck reconstruction. In one case, he worked beside Ukrainian surgeons to rebuild a patient’s jaw after a ballistic injury, using MedCAD’s cutting guides to carefully reconstruct the mandible with bone taken from the patient’s leg. In another, the team reconstructed the mouth of a patient with a catastrophic mortar injury to the face.
For Carpenter, the most powerful part of the experience was the collaboration.
“This was an integrative surgical mission,” he says. “We worked side by side with Ukrainian surgeons in their hospital. We were guests in their environment and that was incredibly meaningful. I was honored that they trusted me to help care for their patients.”
Surgeons used 3D printed custom implants donated by MedCAD to reconstruct the faces of patients injured in the Ukraine war.
Carpenter was equally moved by their dedication and commitment to their patients, sharing stories of surgeons operating during active bombings and shielding patients during missile strikes on hospitals.
“It’s hard to not want to go back and help in whatever way,” Dr. Carpenter says, adding that he’s grateful that Sutter fosters a community that allows physicians and surgeons to treat patients wherever they need care.
“At Sutter Health, our mission to care for our patients first and our people always means giving our care teams the necessary support to reach their professional aspirations and goals,” says Meredith Hileman, CEO of Sutter West Bay Medical Group. “This culture of care extends globally thanks to Sutter doctors, surgeons and medical teams who travel abroad to deliver advanced, compassionate care and share their skills.”
Carpenter plans to return to Ukraine this fall.
