Rare surgery helps man get back severed wrist
23-yr-old factory worker regains movement of crushed limb in miraculous procedure at Mulund hospital
By Jyoti Shelar
Posted On Friday, May 20, 2011
About three weeks ago, 23-year-old Avinash Patil watched in horror as his severed right wrist dangled precariously, almost about to fall off his hand as he was being taken to hospital.
The wrist was crushed in a biscuit-making machine at a factory in Ambernath where Patil works.
“The sight still sends a shiver down my spine,” says the Badlapur resident, touching the re-sutured wrist, unable to believe that his hand has been saved. “A thin layer of skin held my wrist to the hand.”
Doctors at Fortis Hospital in Mulund where the surgery was performed said the fact that the severed wrist could be reattached after 14 hours is a miracle, and that Patil should consider himself a lucky man.
Running from pillar to post
“On night shift that day, I was cleaning the machines that churn the powder used to make biscuits. A colleague who was cleaning another part of the machine accidentally switched on the machine while my hand was near the cutter,” recalled Patil, shrugging his shoulders, as if trying to flick aside the thought.
Patil, who hails from Jalgaon and is the family’s only financial support, was taken to a nearby nursing home where he was given painkillers and advised being shifted to Sion hospital. Due to a shortage of paramedical staff, Patil was directed to JJ Hospital, Byculla where the doctors said the wrist could be fixed and besides there were too many surgeries scheduled.
By then, Patil’s employer had managed to fix an appointment at Fortis Hospital to which he was immediately transported.
“We got to the hospital around 4.30 am and the doctors wasted no time,” said Patil. “They said the chance of the wrist’s survival was just one per cent.”
Patil can now move the fingers of his right hand. Besides, doctors say he is no longer susceptible to contracting any infection.
A fortnight later, he is scheduled to undergo another surgery to join the nerves so that he regains sensation in his wrist.
Medical miracle
A medical team then performed the revascularisation surgery. It involves providing new blood supply to the body part. After revascularisation, the wrist was repaired and surgically reconstructed.
The blood flow to the wrist was restarted the following day around noon.
“His wrist was detached. All arteries supplying blood to the hand were cut and so were all veins and nerves,” said Dr Sachin Bhonsle, orthopaedic surgeon at Fortis Hospital.
Dr Bhonsle said 14 hours is a long gap to restore the body part. “Normally, body tissues can withstand loss of blood circulation for up to four hours,”
He said that in countries having cool climates, such tissues can be preserved but not in a country like ours.
Dr Bhonsle added, “In such cases, chances of contracting an infection are very high. That the limb survived for 14 hours is a miracle in itself.”
No comments:
Post a Comment