Marathon surgery saves labourer from disability

Saving a daily wage labourer from lifetime disability, doctors at a city hospital attached his severed wrist in a 17-hour marathon surgery.

The employer and colleagues of 22-year-old Kamlesh rushed him to a local clinic when his wrist got stuck under a machine and was ripped off at 1.30 AM on November 10.

The severed part was preserved in an ice bag immediately at the clinic and the patient was then referred to BLK Super Speciality Hospital for surgery.

"Once Kamlesh reached us we started the surgery which continued till the next day late night. Window period for a successful replant of severed limb is six hours. The team made sure that all the initial investigations were performed in time as any delay could have been detrimental to the success of the surgery," said Dr Lokesh Kumar, Director and HoD, BLK Centre for Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery.
 

Kamlesh was quickly taken to the operation theater after stabilisation. The severed part had squashed arteries and nerves.

"The challenge was to precisely identify each of them and separate them. Arteries, nerves and tendons of the amputated part was fixed to the stump using K wires, which held the severed hand together in place before titanium plates were inserted to join the bones," explained Kumar.

Microscopic surgery was performed to save the hand after tendon and nerve repair was done, Kumar said.

"The re-plantation surgery took almost 17-hours. Re-plantation is a very delicate surgery. The coordination of the whole team saved Kamlesh from a condition which could have pushed him into lifetime of disability," Dr Anil Kumar Murarka, Senior Consultant, Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery at BLK hospital said.

Kamlesh is the sole bread earner of his family, doing manual job at a local factory. The immediate response of the medical team saved a family from loosing their only source of income.

According to doctors, Kamlesh was discharged the next day and is showing consistent improvement on a daily basis.

"He can move his fingers and has partial wrist movement. It would take about six weeks to naturally regenerate his bone strength and muscle movement," Kumar said.