14-hour surgery to re-attach seven severed fingers !!

In a gruelling 14-hour surgery from 6 p.m. on March 26 to 8 a.m. the following day, two teams of micro surgeons at Ganga Hospital here re-attached seven of the eight fingers of a 30-year-old man.Around 11 a.m. on March 26, Rajaram’s hands were caught in a paper cutting machine in a printing unit in Sivakasi.

The tip of the left thumb was sliced off. The other four fingers in the left hand were severed from the top edge of the palm. The index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand were also severed.

On the advice of a surgeon in Madurai, the severed fingers were packed properly and brought along with the patient to Ganga Hospital the same evening.Director of the Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Microsurgery at the hospital S. Rajasabapathy and Microsurgeon Hari Venkatramani performed the surgery. Dr. Rajasabapathy said in a press release that re-attaching the severed fingers was a long process. Normally, the surgery on each finger took three to four hours because the bone, tendons, blood vessels and nerves should be re-attached.

While the bones were fixed with thin stainless steel wires, the nerves and blood vessels were joined by small sutures that were one-twentieth of a millimetre in thickness.The entire surgery on both the hands was done under a microscope. While the tip of the left thumb could not be re-attached, all the others were put back in their place by the two teams of three micro-surgeons each and another team of three anaesthetists led by Ravindra Bhat.

They worked on the fingers for 14 hours continuously. The surgery was performed using local anaesthesia in the injured areas. The surgery involved joining 33 blood vessels (each 1 mm in diametre), 14 nerves, 14 tendons and seven bones.Each finger had at least four blood vessels (arteries and veins) of less than 1 mm in diameter.

Dr. Rajasapathy said the following steps should be taken to preserve the severed parts in order to make the re-attachment possible: The severed parts should be put in a plastic bag and tightly sealed with a knot.This bag must be put in a box or flask and ice cubes must be packed around it. Parts like fingers could be re-attached even after six or eight hours as these do not have muscle.

Those with muscle should be re-attached in two to three hours.

Related Posts by Categories

General

• Indian navy felicitate shooters !
• Voters strength goes up by 9%
• Nuts 'n' Spices plansto enter cbe !
• உலகத் தமிழ் செம்மொழி மாநாடு - 5 நாள் நிகழ்ச்சி நிரல்
• ‘Manage the present industrial scenario well’
• Consumer body opposes ‘illegal, excess bus fare’
• Trial run on New Irugur - N.cbe Track !!
• Traffic diversions in city today
• New fire tenders for Coimbatore Airport
• Power cabels t go underground !!
• Eclipse Watch !!
• Army recruitment announcement
• SIEMA to develop ‘Made in Coimbatore’ brand
• Copenhagen summit: City students express solidarity
• Awareness campaign for TNSTC drivers
• Botanical garden: soil samples taken
• NASSCOM to help police ..
• YES plus from 5th Jan
• Training for women
• Youth urged to become entrepreneurs
• Six-a-side cricket to be conducted !!
• Wild jackals kill 39 sheeps !
• Biometric survey under houses for urban poor scheme
• Helmet must from 10th dec !!
• Kamal Nath thanked !

Medical

• Osteoporosis cause of 83 per cent of all spinal fractures
• Workshop on protecting cardiologists from radiation
• Hospitals briefed on insurance scheme
• Laser assisted spine surgery !
• ASICON 2009 at cbe !!
• CyberKnife cancer cure at Apollo hospitals
• Surgery Live telecast to UK university !
• Buy T shirts and help cancer affected children !!
• Breast cancer awareness month begins !
• Stem cell therapy cures girl of thalassemia
• Endoscopy used to remove bone piece from man's throat
• PSG Hospital places pacemaker in woman’s leg
• CTS Donates Microscope To Sankara Eye Centre
• Shoulder surgery workshop
• K.G. Foundation awards for doctors
• Sensitisation Meeting For Doctors
• Students With Protective Masks @ Class
• Interventional Radiology Website Launched
• Interventional Radiology Website Launched
• 12 More Suspected Of Swineflu
• Kalam To Meet Children
• Special Medical Camp For Rural Women
• SwineFlu 2 More Suspected
• Lifetime Achievement Award To Opthalmologist V.M. Loganathan
• Avila Student Confirmed H1N1 Virus