A labourer whose arm was chopped off can work again, thanks to a rare surgery

Saved by 'hand of god'

A labourer whose arm was chopped off can work again, thanks to a rare surgery

miraculous: Satyendra Kumar can move at least two fingers of the hand that was severed, after the reconstructive surgery. Pics/Mid day

Satyendra Kumar, 25, a labourer whose hand was chopped off while working at a steel sheet-cutting machine is ready to return to work.

Doctors at a Gurgaon hospital did a marathon reconstructive surgery on Kumar's hand and the labourer can now move two of his fingers.

The doctors performed a long micro vascular surgery. "It was a very rare surgery as patients hand was brought in a plastic bag. There were minute chances of saving his hand" said Dr Raman Sethi, chief plastic and micro vascular surgeon, Paras Hospital.

Satyendra, who belongs to Bhiwandi, has been working in a steel sheet-cutting factory for the past two years. He met with an accident on April 20 that would have resulted in permanent disability.

Dr Sethi said, "Satyendra's hand was severed from his wrist after it accidentally came under a sheet-cutting machine. Thanks to his fellow staff and the primary physician who brought him to the hospital well in time with the properly preserved severed hand. The operation was started within two-and-a-half hours of injury and lasted for more than eight hours."

"We were able to fix the hand and restore circulation as well as repair all tendons and nerves. We tagged all the nerves with different colour so that we could fix the right nerve to the right area. Now, after observing the patient we can see his hand is responding well. The blood circulation is good and he could move two of his fingers," he said and added that his hand would be perfectly fine after physiotherapy.

Satyendra said, "I am happy, as I would be able to get back to work soon. Doctors have done a wonderful job as I had lost all hope. No one who had seen my hand in a polythene bag can believe that it is now back in its place and I can use it again."

Dr Sethi said the success of such operations depended on the type of injury, whether sharp or badly mutilated, level of injury, time elapsed in transportation, the proper method of storing the severed part and the availability of surgical expertise and facilities.

"The technique of micro vascular surgery is being used in saving a lot of limbs which would have landed up into amputations due to the loss of large amount of skin over fractured bones," he explained.
"This technique is also used in restoring post-cancer surgery defects like large facial/jaw defects or post-breast reconstruction," he added.

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