The Importance of Research in Orthognathic Surgery: The Next Frontier

A successful surgery relies on planning and evaluation. To guarantee an accurate planning, validated tools should be used and post operative accuracy assessment should follow. We only improve our methods by learning from our mistakes, therefore the team of orthognathic surgery in University Hospitals of Leuven, Belgium consists of not only surgeons but also clinical engineers and researchers to develop new tools and techniques to follow up patients and optimize the ways used to plan the surgery. The main aim is to minimize all types of risks for the patients undergoing orthognathic surgery and improve patient care and outcomes. In this lecture, I'll be presenting the experience of our department for the last 10 years and highlight some of the potential future developments.

  • Eman (Emmy) Shaheen graduated with honors from the faculty of Computer Sciences and Information Technology (2003), Cairo University, Egypt where she worked as a teaching assistant from 2003 till 2007 with a major in Image Processing. Meanwhile, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Video Processing (2007) from Cairo University. In 2008, she joined the team of Medical Physics where she finished with distinction her pre-doctoral studies in 2009 followed by her doctoral degree in 2014 in Biomedical Sciences at the KU Leuven, Belgium to develop/simulate 3D models of breast lesions and tools to optimize the performance of breast tomosynthesis.

    In the same year, she started working in the department of Maxillo-facial surgery, University hospitals Leuven (Belgium) as clinical engineer with focus on 3D planning of orthognathic surgeries that is now extended to reconstructive surgeries such as TMJ, cleft lip and palate and craniofacial deformities.

    Next to the patient related work, she is part of the research group of the OMFS-IMPATH (KU Leuven, Belgium) where she supervises masters and PhD students and supports different research projects related to 3D printing, 3D simulations and 3D evaluations.