A 22-year-old daily wager, Kamlesh, whose wrist was severed in an accident, underwent a 17-hour long surgery at New Delhi and is back home in a week’s time with his earning hand intact.

His right wrist was severed from the stump completely while working on a machine at a sheet cutting factory in Greater Noida.

The employer and colleagues of Kamlesh rushed him to a local hospital when his wrist got stuck under the machine and was ripped off completely in the wee hours of the night at 1:30 am.  The severed part was preserved in the ice bag immediately at the nearby clinic and the patient was then referred to BlK Super Speciality Hospital for immediate surgery.

“Once Kamlesh reached us we started the surgery in no time which lasted till next day late night. The procedure continued till the next day late night. Window period for a successful replant of the severed limb is 6 hours. The team made sure that all the initial investigations were performed in time as any delay could have been detrimental to the success of the surgery,” said director and Head of the centre at the hospital, Dr lokesh Kumar. A microscopic surgery was performed to save the hand after tendon and nerve repair was done.

“Kamlesh was quickly taken to the operation theatre after stabilisation. The severed part had squashed arteries and nerves; the challenge was to precisely identify each and separate them. Arteries, nerves and tendons of the amputated part was fixed to the stump using  K wires, which held the severed hand together in place before titanium plates were inserted to join the bones. Then the titanium plates were inserted and bolted on to join the bones,” he said.

Dr Anil Kumar Murarka, Sr Consultant, Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery, said, “The re-plantation surgery took almost 17-hours. Re-plantation is a very delicate surgery and requires marriage of two fields of medical study to work at parlance. The seamless coordination of the whole team saved Kamlesh from a condition which could have pushed him into  lifetime of disability.”

The youth is the sole bread earner of his family, doing manual job at a local factory which requires his physical condition to be in order. 

Kamlesh is doing good now and showing consistent improvement on a daily basis, said the doctor, adding that now he can move his fingers and has partial wrist movement. It would take about 6 weeks to naturally regenerate his bone strength and muscle movement, saving him from being a crippled for lifetime, Dr Murarka added.  He has been discharged now.