Surgeons at the Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City have successfully carried out two surgical reattachments of hands that were cut from two patients’ bodies.

The first patient was a 20-year-old man from southern Binh Duong Province hospitalized in the early morning hours on March 12 with his left hand nearly cut from his body by a saw machine.

Responding to the emergency, the Military Hospital 175 mobilized doctors from its different departments to perform the replantation on the man in the same morning.

According to Dr. Bui Van Phuc from the hospital’s Department of Upper Limb, the patient’s injury was quite complicated due to the loss of an artery section.

The surgeons thus used a part of vein in the patient’s leg to reconnect his hand’s blood vessels.

After that, they reattached other parts of the hand, including nerves, tendons, and muscles.

Doctors tend to a 26-year-old man, who had his left hand cut from his body, at the Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: T.C. / Tuoi Tre

At around 9:00 pm on March 15, the hospital also received a 26-year-old man from southern Binh Phuoc Province, with his left hand hanging by skin and his fingers turning cold. He suffered from acute blood loss.

According to the patient, a person had slashed his left hand with a machete over a conflict. The patient was transferred from a local hospital in Binh Phuoc to the Military Hospital 175 about six hours after the incident.

Determining that there was still an opportunity to save the patient’s hand, the surgeons urgently performed an operation to replant the body part 20 minutes after his admission to the hospital.

Both of the two surgeries were successful.

“It was fortunate that the patients received sufficient first aids,” Dr. Phuc said.

“The patients were bandaged to help stop bleeding.

“Their cut hands were wrapped in plastic bags, preserved with ice and transferred to the hospital early.”

The two patients have been in stable health and able to make finger moves.

According to the hospital, the patients’ muscle strength can recover from 60 to 90 percent after three to six months of physical therapy, depending on their personal responsive abilities.

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