Obituary Ingemar Fogdestam

Ingemar Fogdestam
September 29, 1941 – October 19, 2024

One of the great pioneers of microsurgery in Sweden died at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg on October 19, 2024 at the age of 83 years after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ingemar was born in Blekinge in the south of Sweden on September 29, 1941 and maintained his connection with the region for his entire life. His father was an engineer in the Swedish Airforce. He attended school in Ronneby and proceeded to Gymnasium in nearby Karlskrona.

Ingemar gained admission to medical school in Gothenburg in the autumn of 1961. His early surgical experience was in Eskilstuna and soon he realised his affinity for plastic surgery. He was fortunate to have gained a residency position at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg in 1970, coming under the influence of Bengt Johanson, a larger-than-life character in the Swedish plastic surgery scene.
Bengt encouraged Ingemar to undertake a research project on wound healing and facilitated this by sending him to Aarhus, Denmark, where between 1974 and 1976 he studied the subject of Delayed Primary Closure, obtaining his PhD thesis in 1980.

Bengt Johanson became aware of the importance that microsurgery would play in the future of plastic surgery. This led him to recommend Ingemar to join the fellowship program of Bernard O’ Brien and Wayne Morrison at the world leading St. Vincent’s Hospital Microsurgical Unit in Melbourne Australia, where he spent one year in 1977. During that year he encountered a plastic surgeon from Adelaide, Richard Hamilton, who was then chief resident. In Melbourne they carried out anatomical studies together on the blood supply of the lower abdominal wall.
At the end of this time, Ingemar invited Richard to work with him at the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, where they set up the first microsurgical unit in Scandinavia. During this period, they carried out the very first clinical free abdominoplasty flap cases in 1978 -1979 (now known as the DIEP flap) for breast reconstruction. Ironically, Ingemar’s name was omitted from the original article. The DIEP operation is now mainstream and has enormously improved the lives of tens of thousands of women suffering from breast cancer around the world.

Other ground breaking microsurgical procedures carried out by Ingemar included lower limb reconstruction with the osteocutaneous groin flap, free fibular transfer for congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia, epididymovasostomy for male infertility and unique cases such as scalp replantation in a young girl and hand replantation in a young boy. He published numerous articles on these and other microsurgical works.

In plastic surgery, Ingemar was a deeply dedicated mentor and was admired for his clear thinking, his care and dedication to his patients and his determination to undertake challenging cases. Outside of surgery he was an officer in the Swedish Airforce, had an encyclopaedic knowledge of military history and had an extraordinary memory. Above all we remember him as a faithful, fine friend and he will be greatly missed by his family, friends and colleagues.

Despite all his professional commitments Ingemar Fogdestam found time for and was dedicated to his family. He is survived by his three daughters Ilona, Ellen and Hanna and six grandchildren.