65 days of miracles for pregnant woman who had to temporarily graft a severed arm onto her leg

(Dan Tri) - More than 2 months after temporarily grafting a severed hand onto a pregnant woman's leg, doctors continued to perform a series of difficult techniques in a special surgery, helping the female patient keep her hands to take care of her baby after birth.

Regarding the case of LNP - a female patient carrying twins who had her severed arm temporarily grafted onto her leg - who just completed limb reattachment surgery at Binh Duong General Hospital (HCMC), on the evening of November 30, a source from Dan Tri reporter shared details about the surgery and treatment process for this special case.

Consult with many specialists and ask for opinions from many hospitals

Accordingly, on September 13, patient LNP had her hand temporarily transplanted onto her lower leg, after a work accident that completely crushed the lower third of her right forearm and severed her right hand while she was 23 weeks pregnant with twins.

After the surgery, after a period of monitoring and stable care, the patient was discharged from the hospital. On November 17, the pregnant woman was hospitalized for the second time in stable condition, the right hand transplanted was rosy, no infection, and the twins were developing well. The pregnant woman requested surgery to reattach the hand.

The severed hand was temporarily grafted onto the patient's leg at a previous time (Photo: Hospital).

The hospital examined, checked and performed full clinical tests on the patient. Thereby, the pregnant woman's health was recorded within normal limits. Ultrasound images of the limb blood vessels showed no unusual signs.

The results of the pregnancy examination and ultrasound screening showed that the patient's twins were over 34 weeks old, weighing 2,184g and 2,255g respectively, the amniotic fluid and umbilical cord were normal, and the fetus's health was stable.

Before performing the limb reattachment surgery, the doctors fully explained the risks of accidents and complications that could occur during and after the surgery to the patient. Afterwards, an interdisciplinary consultation including Surgery, Anesthesia and Resuscitation, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedics, Hematology, Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning, and Nutrition took place.

Binh Duong General Hospital also proactively sought professional advice from Tu Du Hospital and the Anesthesia and Resuscitation Department from Binh Dan Hospital before, during and after surgery.

Many difficult techniques in special hand reattachment surgery

During the hand-to-forearm transplant surgery for the patient, the assigned units were all present and closely coordinated.

Specifically, the Hematologist coordinates to monitor blood loss and fully compensate for blood loss, while the Obstetrician is responsible for attaching a machine to continuously monitor the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions throughout the surgery.

Doctors in the surgical team reattached the patient's hand (Photo: Hospital).

The surgical team performed a series of difficult techniques during the surgery. First, the surgeon separated the stump of the forearm from the abdomen and cleaned it (with an 8x15cm skin island), exposing the blood vessels, nerves, and the entire flexor-extensor tendon system at this location.

Next, the doctor separated the hand from the leg, took a 15cm segment of the posterior tibial artery supplying blood to the hand, and took an additional skin island (14x16cm) supplied with blood from two perforating branches of the posterior tibial artery.

The team sutured the skin to cover the wound and grafted thin skin to supplement the remaining skin defect of the first stage, while cleaning the hand, exposing the blood vessels and nerves and the entire flexor-extensor tendon system of the wrist and fingers.

Finally, the doctors proceeded to reattach the right hand to the prepared stump of the right forearm; combined the radius with a locking screw; connected an artery and three veins to re-establish circulation to the hand; and reattached the lost tendons and nerves.

After surgery, patients are continuously checked, tested and monitored, with the coordination of Obstetrics, Surgery, Anesthesia and Resuscitation, and Orthopedics.

Currently, the patient's general condition is stable, alert, able to eat and drink, blood vessels are open, hands and skin islands are pink. The fingers on the mother's hand can move slightly as instructed, and are being trained according to the protocol. The twins in the patient's womb are also stable and have a regular heartbeat.

The pregnant woman's right hand has returned to her arm after more than 2 months of experiencing a serious accident (Photo: Hospital).

The patient is being actively treated and closely monitored, including physical therapy, nutrition, infection monitoring... In addition to the 20cm missing radius, a second surgery will be performed to replace the fibula flap. The pregnant woman has not shown any signs of abnormal problems.

"Antibiotics, pain relievers, anticoagulants and other necessary medications for patient treatment are all consulted and recommended by doctors at higher levels.

The hospital still maintains updates on the patient's condition and progress and consults with higher-level units twice a day to ensure safety and avoid any shortcomings," said Binh Duong General Hospital.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health , this surgery demonstrates the efforts, sense of responsibility and interdisciplinary coordination of Binh Duong General Hospital in caring for patients with particularly complicated conditions.

The success of the surgery contributed to affirming the important progress of local medicine in the field of microsurgery and plastic surgery, and at the same time demonstrated profound humanistic values, because it helped a future mother keep her hands so she could take care of her two children after birth.

"We have fulfilled our promise"

As Dan Tri reported, on September 13, Binh Duong General Hospital received a girl named LNP transferred from Di An Regional Medical Center, in a state of severe crushing injury to her right forearm due to a work accident.

Upon admission to the hospital, the patient's forearm was almost severed, with broken bones and damaged arteries due to the cutting machine, putting her hand at risk and threatening her life. Notably, the patient was 23 weeks pregnant with twins.

In response to the girl's wish to keep her hand to care for her child in the future, the doctors boldly performed a temporary surgery to graft the severed limb onto her leg. The surgery lasted 3 hours.

"We did not just fulfill the mother's wish to keep a hand, but determined that we would have to create a completely new forearm longer than 15cm to attach the hand to. The hand must not only be alive, it must move and have real function...

We have fulfilled our promise, wishing the mother a quick recovery on the next journey and happiness for the three of them," a member of the treatment team shared on her personal page.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/65-ngay-lam-nen-phep-mau-cho-thai-phu-phai-ghep-tam-tay-dut-lia-vao-chan-20251130235214762.htm