Reattaching young man's arm severed by pulley gear

A young man was caught in a pulley gear transporting construction materials, severing his arm. Fortunately, doctors were able to successfully reattach his arm.

Doctors check the stitches on the victim's left arm - Photo: TL

The victim PMT (36 years old, Co Do district, Can Tho) was taken to the Can Tho General Hospital for emergency treatment with his left arm severed, the bone broken at 1/3 of the arm. The victim was in shock due to trauma, massive blood loss, pulse and blood pressure unmeasurable…

According to a colleague, while transporting construction materials at the construction site (Tra Noc Ward, Binh Thuy District, Can Tho), the victim's sleeve got caught in the pulley gear and was pulled in, severing his left arm. Immediately afterwards, the colleague turned off the pulley and provided first aid on the spot, then immediately transferred the victim to the Can Tho General Hospital with his severed left arm.

At 2am, the on-duty team raised the red alert and mobilized relevant departments to consult and perform emergency surgery to reattach the victim's arm. The emergency resuscitation team, trauma and burn surgery, thoracic vascular surgery, and surgery and anesthesia resuscitation teams were mobilized to urgently perform emergency hemostasis, fluid infusion, blood transfusion, and transfer to the operating room, where they performed resuscitation and surgery to reattach the severed arm.

Doctors said that in this case, the steps of fixing and combining the bones with an external fixator must be performed, the two ends of the arm must be cut and cleaned to clear the blood vessels in the severed limb and the arteries, veins and nerves must be grafted. Then the muscles and skin must be sutured, and the skin must be cut to relieve pressure on the forearm. After surgery, the blood vessels in the arm must be monitored for many hours to ensure good circulation.

On November 11 (after nearly 6 days of reattachment), the arm's sutures had healed, the reattached hand had sensation and was in the process of recovery.

Doctors recommend that when treating emergency cases of severed wounds, suturing is extremely complicated and difficult.

Not only does it require the mobilization of many surgical specialties for suturing, but first aid is also very important: first aid for good local hemostasis, good preservation of the severed part (preservation temperature from 5-10 degrees Celsius, do not put directly in ice water), and at the same time depends on whether the cut is sharp or bruised, whether it is contaminated or not; the time from the cut to the hospital for suturing must be within the golden hour (before 6 hours)...

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/noi-canh-tay-nam-thanh-nien-bi-dut-lia-do-banh-rang-rong-roc-20241111095858825.htm