Abu Dhabi: The medical team at Burjeel Medical City, Abu Dhabi, succeeded in performing a successful microscopic surgery that took more than 6 hours to re-implant the finger of a patient in his thirties who suffered a severe injury as a result of the fall of the window glass on his hand, which led to a complete cut in the finger (the index finger), and deep injuries to the rest of the fingers Left hand and nails.
As soon as the patient was received in the emergency department, the medical team headed by Dr Leon Alexander, a specialist in plastic surgery in the city, performed an autopsy of the severed finger under a surgical microscope to check the condition of the joints, veins, arteries and nerves that were affected by a fine cut, after which a bone fixation was performed using a single wire to repair the fracture.
The tendons, then the arteries and veins were repaired, and the surgically cut finger was re-implanted under the microscope.
The patient said: “As soon as the glass plate fell on my hand, I felt unbearable pain. Fortunately, I was near the hospital site, so it took minutes, my friend told me.”
Dr Alexandre Leon explained: “We see hand injuries ranging from superficial lacerations to complete amputations in the emergency department. Usually, the injured need specialized treatment by a hand surgeon who performs reconstructive surgery and microsurgery, which is a complex surgery that is performed only by a few hand surgeons selected in the country with experience in microsurgery. The patient was lucky, and the medical team was able to reconnect his finger because the time for ischemia (low blood and oxygen supply) was less, and The amputated finger was badly damaged and well preserved. In these cases preserving the amputated part is the most important step to start urgent treatment.”
He pointed out that the re-implanted part of the body never regains its function 100%, but medically, the recovery of 60% to 80% of the use is an excellent result.
Despite that, most cases that succeed in re-implantation recover only approximately 50% of the total movement or function, stressing that re-implantation of the finger is always the best solution than the prosthetic finger in terms of appearance and function, while the severed nerves regenerate at a rate of 1 mm a day, so the patient must regain the feeling of the re-implanted finger gradually over a period of 6-12 months, adding that, the final outcome depends on the extent of the patient’s condition, and the extent of their cooperation and agreement to participate in the comprehensive rehabilitation protocol after surgery.
After bone healing, the patient will undergo a long recovery journey that depends on the functional rehabilitation of the hand, which may extend between 3-6 months and sometimes up to a year; Because the body must re-learn the connection between the signals that come from the brain and the movement of muscles and fingers.