Alberto Rocha Pereira , Hospital da Luz plastic surgeon, is the new president of the “Distraction Taskforce” of AOCMF, international group of specialists in maxillofacial surgery of the AO Foundation, the world major association of surgeons. This restricted group of the AOCMF follows the advances registered in facial reconstructive surgery, proposing projects of research and development of new distraction devices or innovating surgical techniques, integrating the world’s most renowned surgeons in the area. The AO Foundation has over 215.000 associated surgeons, holding each year an average of 830 courses in every continent, publishing books and articles for continuing medical education in scientific journals of global impact, and developing research projects involving the best centres in the world. The most recent article on craniofacial distraction osteogenesis, of which Alberto Rocha Pereira is one of the authors, was published in the June edition of “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery” , the official journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, considered of major global impact in the specialty. The article – entitled “Thirty Years Later: What has craniofacial distraction osteogenesis surgery replaced?” – approaches the benefits of distraction osteogenesis, a reconstructive technique for the treatment of malformation and complex craniomaxillofacial defects. Alberto Rocha Pereira is a plastic surgeon and coordinator of the Unit of Facial Reconstructive Surgery at Hospital da Luz Lisboa, and of the Unit of Aesthetical and Plastic Surgery at Hospital da Luz Torres de Lisboa. “Thirty Years Later: What has craniofacial distraction osteogenesis surgery replaced?”
