title: International efforts in plastic surgery: the Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children's Medical Center and University of Connecticut experience in Ecuador.
abstract: Plastic and reconstructive surgery provide a necessary and essential service to public health efforts in resource-poor regions around the world. Disease processes amenable to plastic surgical treatment significantly contribute to worldwide disability, and it is the poor and underserved who are disproportionately affected.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a week-long plastic and reconstructive surgical trip to Latacunga, Ecuador to provide reconstructive surgical services for the underserved in this region.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the course of a week, 97 patients received surgery. Most patients were young (mean age = 21.8 years) and 50.5% were female. Burns and burn scar contractures were the most common diagnoses requiring surgery(21.6%), but cleft lip and palate deformities, scars, nevi, and congenital ear deformities comprised a significant proportion of the case load as well (17.5%, 11.3%, 12.4%, and 10.3%, respectively). There was one postoperative complication requiring reoperation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This short-term surgical trip successfully delivered essential reconstructive surgical care to an underserved population in rural Ecuador. Although this is most certainly only a fraction of the true surgical disease burden within this population, our experience provides a testament to the need for essential reconstructive surgical services in developing nations around the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Anselm
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCormack
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castiglione
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Pap
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Babigian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003237:Connecticut; D004484:Ecuador; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008297:Male; D008493:Medical Missions / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult