JOIN USThe 35-year-old Indupilli Rajeshwari, hailing from Andhra Pradesh had totally lost hope in life when her drunkard husband recently assaulted her with a sharp knife resulting in total amputation at wrist level.
However, taking a rare chance, her friends helped her to get admitted in the Stanely Government Hospital in Chennai for treatment. Soon after the gruesome incident, which took place on August 10, 2015, Rajeshwari’s relatives had grabbed her amputated hand by immediately preserving it in a cold storage unit, which was also sent to the hospital along with the patient.
After resuscitation and ruling out life threatening injuries, patient was taken up for a replantation surgery on August 18 evening. A team of surgeons, headed by Dr P Jeyakumar, performed a successful six hour long rare surgery to re-attach the amputated part.
The patient has regained finger movements and the hand is viable after a week of surgery. “Such delayed major replants are rare and the surgeons at the Institute for Research and Rehabilitation and Hand and Department of Plastic Surgery in the hospital were successful in doing the operation by restoring the life of the patient without significant morbidity,” Dr Isaac Christian Moses, Dean, Government Stanely Hospital said.
He also pointed out that the key to success was the preservation of the amputated parts in proper cold storage which includes wrapping of the part in a plastic cover which was placed in a container containing ice cubes.
“I thought my life has ended when I saw a portion of my hand falling down in the ground after my husband attacked me with a Koduva-knife. However, it is a new lease of life when I gained conscious after the surgery to see my hand intact,” Rajeshwari said.