Surgery Team Successfully Reconnects Amputated Arm of Two-Year-Old Girl in 12-Hour Procedure at Sohag University Hospital, Egypt

The emergency department at Sohag University Hospital had received the child with her family, who confirmed that her hand was amputated when she put it in the washing machine while it was working. The girl had bled severely, so it was immediately decided to enter the operating room, and she underwent urgent surgery by a team from the hospital’s orthopedic and anesthesia departments.

An operation to administer blood again to the amputated hand was necessary

For his part, the head of the medical team that performed the surgery, who is the head of the orthopedic department at Sohag University Hospital, Dr. Abd al-Rahman al-Sheikh, said in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that:

• The girl arrived at the hospital at four in the morning on Sunday, and her parents said that her hand was amputated when she put it in the washing machine while it was working.
• The child’s right hand was completely amputated from just below the shoulder, and this was a major challenge, because blood supply to the entire hand was required as soon as possible.
• The process of delivering blood again to the amputated hand was necessary and quickly so that the tissues would not die in it and the process of restoring it would be useless.
• It is useful that the child’s family brought her immediately after the accident, as the tissues in the amputated hand had not died yet.
• We prepared the surgery room and its requirements within two hours, and we first started fixing the arm bone through a slide.
• After that, we worked on re-pumping the blood again for the amputated hand, and the process of reconnecting the blood vessels took 5 hours.
• We then worked on connecting the tendons and nerves, and the whole process took 12 hours.
• The child is now able to move her hand again, but she will be in intensive care for two more days.
• This operation is very expensive, but it was performed free of charge for the girl, with a treatment decision at the expense of the state.

For his part, the head of the anesthesia department at Sohag University Hospital, Dr. Fawzi Abbas, told Sky News Arabia that anesthesia in this surgery was one of the most difficult things.

He explained that the child’s body is weak because she is in the prime of her life, in addition to that she had bled a lot, and also the child’s stomach was full of food and drink because she was not ready for surgery, and the possibility of her exposure to retraction and complications due to anesthesia is very high.

He emphasized that the anesthesia team dealt very professionally and quickly by taking the necessary precautions for any complications and at the same time reaching the stage of total anesthesia in a short time so as not to damage the tissues of the amputated hand, and the operation was completed successfully.

He explained that the medical team that performed the surgery consisted of Dr. Abd al-Rahman al-Sheikh, Head of the Orthopedics Department at Sohag University Hospital, Dr. Hassan al-Numani, Professor of Orthopedics, Vice President of Sohag University, Dr. Ahmed El-Desouki, Professor of Orthopedics, Dr. Yasser Heshmat, Assistant Professor of Orthopedics, and Dr. Mohamed Shehata, assistant lecturer of orthopedic surgery at the hospital.

He concluded that the anesthesia team during the surgery consisted of Dr. Hala Al-Khayyat, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Sohag University Hospital, Dr. Khaled Abdel-Aal, Assistant Lecturer of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, and Diaa Ahmed, Anesthesia and Intensive Care Resident.