2025 Report to the Community - Flipbook - Page 15
MUSC Hollings Cancer Center performs ‘Jaw in
a Day’ to ensure cancer survivor has her smile
A multidisciplinary team at MUSC Hollings Cancer
Center performed a successful ‘Jaw in a Day’
procedure on a patient with a history of head and
neck cancer.
This intricate procedure is necessary when part of
the jawbone dies off. In this case, radiation necrosis
developed years after the patient underwent
radiation therapy for cancer. The surgery involves
creating a new jawbone from a portion of the fibula,
inserting implants and teeth into the fibula, and then
connecting the new jawbone to existing, healthy
bone. This is believed to be the first ‘Jaw in a Day’
performed in South Carolina for a cancer survivor.
The difference between ‘Jaw in a Day’ and standard
procedure is that a ‘Jaw in a Day’ patient wakes up
after surgery with a full set of teeth. Patients would
otherwise have to endure multiple surgeries over
months – first to get the implants and, later, after
the bone fused to the implants, to get teeth.
Report to the Community 2025
Head and neck cancer surgeon W. Greer
Albergotti, M.D., noted that people who have
been through cancer treatment sometimes get
to the point where they simply don’t want to go
through any more procedures. Being able to offer
the entire procedure in one day makes it more likely
that patients will have a good cosmetic outcome
and better long-term functional outcome.
“Humans are very adaptable,” he said. “Most people
learn to accept the new normal and are OK with
most things. I think part of our job as physicians is to
see what could be and try to maximize what people
can get out of their reconstruction even if they
would potentially be happy with less.”
This surgery can happen only with deliberate,
coordinated teamwork. Additional members of the
multidisciplinary team were head and neck cancer
surgeon Evan Graboyes, M.D., and maxillofacial
prosthodontist Byung Joo Lee, D.D.S.
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