THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The doctors at KIMSHEALTH have re-implanted the arm detached from a 30-year-old man from Tamil Nadu. The man, who sustained an injury in a local conflict, was brought to the hospital, eight hours after the incident.
Normally detached limbs that have been cut off from the blood supply should be reattached within six hours, which is called the golden period. Here, in addition to the fact that he had lost valuable time before coming to the hospital, still had to wait before the hand and microvascular team could reattach the hand since he had life-threatening injuries in the brain.
“The patient, who was in a state of fractured skull pierced into the brain, underwent a neurosurgery that lasted an hour and a half through which the broken skull bone was removed and was fixed in normal position using a titanium mini plate,” said Dr Ajith R, senior consultant, department of neurosurgery. Simultaneously, preparations to reimplant his severed hand were also progressing in another operation theatre.
Dr Manoj Haridas, hand and microvascular surgeon, and senior consultant, KIMSHEALTH performed an operation to restore the man’s hand by fixing the bones and repairing back the severed arteries, veins, tendons, and nerves. This was followed by the orthopaedic surgical team’s fracture fixations in the patient’s leg.
The patient will get back to optimum function after 3-4 months of physiotherapy under expert guidance. Dr Ajith R, senior consultant, department of neurosurgery, and consultant neurosurgeons, Dr Abu Madan, Dr Navas N S, Dr Bobby Iype, and neuro anesthetist, Dr Susanth B were part of the procedure.