Female patient had entire scalp peeled off due to work accident

The patient's scalp was torn by the machine, and the blood vessels were almost completely crushed, making the preservation and grafting process difficult.

On the afternoon of February 20, Cho Ray Hospital announced that it had just activated the red alert procedure to successfully treat patient PTKO (born in 1996, residing in Trang Bang, Tay Ninh) whose entire scalp was stripped off by a spinning machine.

According to Dr. Ngo Duc Hiep, Head of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Department at Cho Ray Hospital, the patient was admitted to the hospital on January 18 with a diagnosis of a total scalp injury. Previously, at 7 a.m. on January 18, the patient was working at a spinning factory. While bending forward to work, the suction force of the spinning machine sucked in his hair, causing a total scalp injury. The patient was taken to Xuyen A Hospital for first aid before being taken to Cho Ray Hospital.

At Cho Ray Hospital, the patient was tested, paraclinically examined and was assigned to activate the red alert surgery, emergency microsurgery to reattach the severed scalp. Two teams coordinated the surgery for 4.5 hours, successfully grafting the scalp and reattaching the ear to the patient with the support of a microscope system.

"The patient's scalp was torn by the machine, the blood vessels were almost completely crushed, making the preservation and grafting process difficult," Dr. Ngo Duc Hiep informed, adding that before the microsurgery, the doctors spent a lot of time handling the detached scalp, washing it, and cleaning the hair.

After surgery, doctors combined many care measures to help the skin flap to have good blood circulation, and the earlobe healed almost perfectly. The patient returned for a check-up after a month, and noted that the wound had healed well and hair had grown back.

According to Dr. Ngo Duc Hiep, this surgery was successful because the skin patch was properly treated and preserved initially. If left for more than 6 hours, the chance of survival of the grafted skin patch would not be much. From 6 hours onwards, the rate of necrosis increases gradually, because the longer the part is away from the body, the more blood is lost.

THANH SON

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