UAE: Tawam Hospital successfully replants severed hand

Doctors at Tawam Hospital, part of the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), successfully conducted a complex emergency hand replantation surgery that lasted nine hours on a patient who lost his hand in an industrial accident.

The plastic and reconstructive surgery team was able to restore blood circulation in the severed arm within two hours using a microsurgery technique, and the patient was able to move his fingers within a week of the surgery.

Replantation surgeries involve the surgical replantation of a body part (such as the hand, fingers, or toes), with an average survival rate of the replanted parts being 80%.

The success of the replantation surgery depends on several factors – the type of injury being of most importance. Usually, sharp injuries produce the best overall results, while crush or avulsion amputations (an injury in which a body structure is torn off by trauma) produce relatively poor outcomes. Additionally, age, area of injury, and joint vs. non-joint injuries are some factors that affect recovery.

Elaborating further on the surgery, Dr. Ammar Al Dhamin, Plastic, Reconstructive and Microsurgery Consultant, Tawam Hospital, at SEHA, said: "Replantation surgeries can be complex and highly technical. The patient presented to us with a hand severed from his wrist, an industrial injury. Elapsed time is highly crucial; as one of the most important factors to a successful replantation is less than 6 hours in the structures contain muscles."

"In this case, we restored blood circulation within two hours, and the patient could start moving his fingers within a week. We expect he will need extensive physiotherapy in the future, but his recovery so far has been fantastic," he added.

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