CHENNAI: Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday met dean of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital Dr K Shantharam, and appreciated the team of women doctors who performed a rare cross-hand transplantation on a 28-year-old labourer from Bihar who suffered injuries to both upper limbs in a train accident on September 26.
The patient arrived at the hospital with complete amputation of the left arm near the shoulder, and a severely damaged right hand with loss of all fingers. Since the patient faced loss of both upper limbs, the plastic surgery team headed by Dr B Rajeswari, head of plastic surgery department, RGGGH, performed a cross-hand replantation, attaching the amputated left hand to the right forearm stump to restore at least one upper limb,according to the press release issued by the hospital recently.
The 10-hour surgery involved meticulous skeletal fixation tendon reconstruction and microsurgical repair of arteries, veins and nerves. Following the surgery, the patient is undergoing treatment in ICU. The replanted hand continued to show good perfusion and recovery progress. The anatomical continuity of the right upper limb was fully restored by the procedure, the release said.