Rare surgery to reattach avulsed limb performed in Cuttack

In a rare surgery, the avulsed hand of a young girl was repaired and reattached after an eight- hour long surgery in a private hospital here.
Undergraduate student Bharati Sahoo's forearm from his right hand was detached when it accidentally came in contact with a rotating machine at Gopalpur on August 25.
She was rushed to the hospital here where a team of doctors headed by plastic surgeon Bibhuti Bushan Naik performed the surgery successfully on the same day.
Naik said the severed body part was brought here after six hours of the accident, from Gopalpur which is more than 250 kms away.

"The blood vessels were badly damaged, the twin bones of the forearm were crushed and muscle tissues were trampled with no sign of nerve tendons. Thankfully the severed hand was properly preserved in an ice box and was brought to the hospital here without any further damage," he said.
The surgeon said three important blood vessels of the hand were coupled by vein-grafting, the muscles and tendons repaired and the twin bones of radio-ulna were fixed with steel plates.

The broken nerves would be repaired after a fortnight depending on the limb condition, he said, adding the girl would be able to get back 70 per cent of the functioning of her hand with six months of physiotherapy.

A confident Bharati, who is the eldest of three siblings, said she would return to her village.
"I will get back to studies as soon as possible and help my father in his snacks factory as before," she said.