AIIMS Bhubaneswar Successfully Replants Woman's Forearm

Bhubaneswar: A team of doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar have successfully replanted the left forearm of a 25-year-old woman.

Barsha Das, a 25-year-old woman from Odisha's Puri district, has all praise for the doctors of AIIMS Bhubaneswar who have successfully replanted her completely separated left forearm.

A team of doctors from AIIMS have successfully replanted the completely separated left forearm, conducting surgery for 10 hours.

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Barsha came to the emergency department of AIIMS Bhubaneswar on December 9 at around 9 p.m. with traumatic amputation of the left forearm below the elbow.

As per the history provided by the patient, she was working at her home and her dupatta got stuck in the rice cutting machine along with her left hand at around 4 p.m. Following this, she was taken to a local government hospital along with the amputated hand where primary treatment was given, bleeding was secured, and dressing was done.

The amputated part was wrapped in a gauze pad and kept in an ice bath by the person who attended her in the local hospital.

The patient was immediately planned for reimplantation and was taken up for surgery on the same night at around 11:30 p.m. by the team led by Dr. Sanjay Kumar Giri (head of burns and plastic surgery).

The team of physicians from the plastic surgery, orthopaedics, and anaesthesia departments performed the surgery.

At first, the team of doctors took out the amputated part from the fridge and started bench dissection. All the vital structures were identified and tagged, and 3 cm of bone was shortened, said Dr. Giri.

Then, he said, the patient was taken into the operating room and anaesthesia was given. Amputated stumps were opened, debridement was done, and all the vital structures were isolated.

After that, the amputated part was attached to the body by first two bony fixations, then arterial circulation was established along with the vein, followed by two major nerves that were repaired along with muscles and skin, Giri said.

The doctor said the surgery went up till 8 a.m. in the morning and the patient was then shifted to ICU.

After the tenth post-operative day, we took the patient to the operating room again as the skin around the elbow was not good. Under anaesthesia, we had removed all the devitalised skin and covered it with a skin graft.

"It has been around two weeks following the incident. Currently, the limb is viable," added Giri.

AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director Ashutosh Biswas on Thursday visited the young lady in the ward and applauded the effort of doctors for the heroic job. Biswas also praised Barsha for her bravery and assured her a prosperous future.

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