Partially amputated hand reattached in 8-hr surgery at GMC

Panaji: Recently, the department of plastic surgery and burns of Goa Medical College (GMC) reattached the partially amputated left hand of a 24-year-old man who met with an accident while operating a machine.
The ring and little fingers of the man were separated from his palm and the only attachment remained was that through the middle finger. A team of plastic surgeons, an anaesthetist, nurses and ancillary staff worked for eight hours to successfully complete the complex surgery.
“Surgery started at midnight and the team worked to reattach bones, a flexor, and extensor tendons, arteries and veins of the detached fingers under magnification. It was able to restore circulation to the reattached part of the hand,” said head of the department Dr Yuri Dias Amborcar.
The patient has been discharged and recovering well and has been put on physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment.
However, it is not always possible to save an injured hand or a finger/fingers as it will depend on the mechanism of the injury. “Each case is different but the earlier the patient reaches hospital, the better,” Amborcar said.
The goal of every surgery, he said, is to save the hand in form and function but despite the best efforts of a treating doctor, at times, a patient may partially or wholly lose an affected part of the body.
Before the surgery, the treating doctor will assess the patient and severed body part and will inform him about options available, especially, feasibility of reattachment, he said.
In the event of an accidental amputation, Amborcar said, a patient along with an amputated part should be immediately taken to a hospital, but a few measures must be taken before he is rushed for possible treatment.
The ring and little fingers of the man were separated from his palm and the only attachment remained was that through the middle finger. A team of plastic surgeons, an anaesthetist, nurses and ancillary staff worked on the surgery