Man's amputated hand rejoined in challenging surgery at Delhi hospital

NEW DELHI: Doctors at a leading private hospital here have rejoined the amputated hand of a man after he suffered an accident at a factory in Prahaladpur industrial area in Delhi, hospital authorities said on Sunday.

The 36-year-old man, Inderpal, was working at the factory in Badli area on January 21, when around 2 PM suddenly a heavy object from the machine fell on his hand and his left forearm got crushed and amputated, they said.

He was taken to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

"Patient suffered severe pain, loss of blood and went into shock. His employer, being a good samaritan, did not hesitate in taking the patient immediately to the hospital.

"Further, he showed presence of mind and collected the amputated hand, well preserved in ice. By 4 pm, two hours after the accident, Inderpal was in the emergency ward," the hospital said in a statement.

According to Anubhav Gupta, Senior Consultant, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, at the facility, "Though the patient reached us well within the golden time period (usually 3-4 hours over ice in forearm level injury), it was challenging as the forearm at the time of amputation had got badly pulled and crushed".

This led to multiple-level injuries to various structures (bone, muscles, nerves and vessels), necessitating a holistic approach requiring extensive shortening and graft usage from different parts of the body, he said.

"As time was the essence, we decided to take the patient immediately for a surgery without waiting for COVID-19 test result, which came negative later," the hospital said.

Due to the severity of the injury, it took over six hours to perform the implantation of the forearm using micro-vascular technique, it said.

At present, the patient's hand has been successfully salvaged and he hopes to have a good hand functional recovery, doctors said.

Gupta added that with the latest surgical techniques it is now possible to rejoin even the worst amputated limbs if they are brought in time and well preserved in ice.

It is important to understand that the amputated part should not be in direct contact of ice.

It should be kept in a clean polythene over ice, he said.