Thai Nguyen Central Hospital: Successfully reattached a hand to a patient

After 3 days of treatment, the patient's hands were well and his fingers could move (Photo: Manh Hung).

After 3 days of treatment, the patient's circulation in both hands was good and his fingers could move. Photo: Manh Hung

Previously, at 5:00 p.m. on July 1, Thai Nguyen Central Hospital received a 35-year-old male patient, residing in Phan Dinh Phung ward, admitted with a nearly severed right wrist, only 1.5 cm of skin remaining, complete loss of blood supply to the hand; the patient's left hand was severely damaged, the wound split through the 4th and 5th fingers, severed tendons, loss of bone mass, damage to the palmar veins, and threat of necrosis of the 5th finger.

In addition, the patient also suffered an injury to the right leg with a deep laceration close to the popliteal artery. Although the artery was not punctured, the lateral popliteal tendon and the lateral popliteal sciatic nerve were severed, leading to paralysis of dorsiflexion and external rotation of the foot.

The patient was admitted to the hospital in a state of hemorrhagic shock and was quickly transferred to the operating room to reattach his hand and fingers on both sides, ensuring minimal disability.

During the surgery, the doctors reconnected the right wrist bone, reconnected 22 wrist tendons, and microsurgically reconnected the ulnar nerve, median nerve, and sensory branch of the radial nerve. The two radial and ulnar arteries and four veins were reconnected to ensure blood circulation to the right hand. For the patient's left hand, the doctor reconnected the bone, tendons, nerves, and vascular arches, ensuring that the 5th finger would not be necrotic.

The surgery was performed from 7 p.m. on July 11 to 1 a.m. on July 12. By July 13, the patient's health had improved. According to Dr. Pham Thi Thanh Hien, Department of Plastic Surgery, who directly participated in the surgical team, by the afternoon of July 13, the patient's hands had good circulation, fingers were moving, general condition was good, he could talk and eat normally; it is expected that the nerves will be reconnected after 10 days when the general condition and both hands are stable.

It is known that in recent years, Thai Nguyen Central Hospital has successfully operated on many cases of patients with severed limbs. These are all complicated surgeries, requiring the coordination of many specialties with high techniques, especially in reconnecting blood vessels, nerves, tendons and muscles. According to the hospital's doctors, through post-operative monitoring and evaluation, all cases have the ability to recover relatively stable movement...

The above case of causing especially dangerous injuries to the patient is being investigated by the provincial authorities to be strictly handled according to the provisions of law.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/y-te/202507/benh-vien-trung-uong-thai-nguyen-noi-thanh-cong-ban-tay-cho-mot-benh-nhan-cc71ac3/