Craniofacial Fellowship at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital: Review of an 8-month Fellowship Experience

1 Sir: C Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) in Taiwan was established in 1976. CGMH has 3,707 beds in the main branch at Linkou near Taipei. Linkou branch had 3,528,000 outpatients 1,067,000 hospitalized patients, and 91,000 surgical cases in 2014. CGMH has 7 branches in Taiwan and 2 branches in China. A craniofacial center was opened at Linkou in 1978 by Professor Noordhoff from the United States, expanded by Professor Y. R. Chen since 1997, and moved to Taoyuan branch newly completed in 2003 with 691 beds. The center consists of plastic surgeons and orthodontists, and approximately 600 orthognathic surgeries (OGSs) have been performed in 1 year that include surgery-first OGS,1 maxillomandibular advancement for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),2 and computer-assisted surgery3 as the characterized feature. In this article, to share the author’s experience with surgeons wanting to learn OGS, the author reviewed the craniofacial fellowship in CGMH for approximately 8 months from August 2014 to April 2015. This review was written by referring to a personal notebook, which recorded details of all attended surgical cases, including diagnosis and surgical technique. The author observed 26 surgeries and assisted 82 surgeries and published 2 technical notes regarding his fellowship experience.4,5 However, 3 manuscripts including a technical note, a case report, and an e-book chapter were still unpublished at 20 months after the end of the fellowship. Surgery was performed on every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. On every Monday morning, 2 scientific meetings were held, a meeting with Professor Y. R. Chen and international fellows and a research meeting with researchers. Moreover, on every Tuesday morning, another scientific meeting with residents was held. Craniofacial fellows had to present topics regarding OGS on Monday morning meeting, and every long-term craniofacial fellow had to present a review of fellowship at CGMH at the end of the fellowship on Tuesday morning meeting. At the Monday Craniofacial Fellowship at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital: Review of an 8-month Fellowship Experience