Ghaziabad: An 18-year-old construction worker whose right hand was severed from the wrist after getting trapped in a bulldozer on July 21 underwent a successful seven-hour reattachment surgery.The accident took place at a site on Kala Patthar Road in Indirapuram, where the teenager was engaged in loading and unloading work around a JCB machine. His right hand got trapped.Coworkers placed the severed hand in a polythene bag and rushed him to Yashoda Medicity, around 3km from the site, reaching the hospital about half an hour after the accident. The hand was cleaned and preserved while the team prepared for emergency reimplantation.Doctors said the seven-hour operation was complicated by the fact that the injury was caused by a crushing mechanism rather than a clean cut. The team first stabilised the fractured wrist bones before carrying out microsurgical repair of the arteries, veins, tendons, nerves and surrounding soft tissue.“Managing the blood loss was also a major challenge, with the anaesthesia team closely monitoring him and administering a blood transfusion during the procedure,” said Puja Batra, a doctor at the hospital’s emergency department.“Reimplanting a completely amputated hand is a race against time. The tissues had suffered a crush injury. Every structure, from the smallest blood vessel to the tendons and nerves, had to be repaired under the microscope with utmost precision. The fact that the patient reached us within the golden window made a huge difference to the outcome,” said Dr Shobhit Sharma, principal consultant, plastic, aesthetic & reconstructive surgery.The surgery restored blood circulation to the replanted hand. The patient remained in hospital for around 10 days and was discharged in a stable condition. Doctors said the immediate outcome was satisfactory, though regaining normal movement and sensation will take time.“The hand now has restored blood supply. It will take time for the hand to recover to normal function, but we expect him to show steady clinical improvement over the coming months,” Sharma said.The patient will require regular follow-up and rehabilitation, with sensation and movement in the fingers expected to return gradually as the repaired nerves and tissues heal. Physiotherapy will be introduced after the initial healing period to help regain strength and mobility.Doctors said the way the severed hand was preserved and transported, along with the short interval before surgery, were key factors in making reimplantation possible. “In traumatic amputations, every minute can matter, particularly when the amputated part is preserved appropriately and the patient is transferred quickly to a centre capable of performing microsurgical reimplantation. In such cases, quick action makes a major difference,” Batra said.
