Surgeons from Hamad General Hospital successfully reattach man’s severed foot
Life-altering accidents can happen to anyone, at any time and place. A lucky few, who are rushed to the hospital and arrive there in the nick of time, get a second chance at a normal life.
Cameroonian Barthimili Undobu is one among those lucky few, reports Qatar Tribune.
Undobu, whose foot got amputated from the ankle down after being struck by a sharp object at the workplace, was rushed to the Hamad General Hospital (HGH). Surgeons worked on him for many hours on end and finally reattached the foot successfully.
Dr Amr Fares, a senior consultant of vascular surgery at the Department of Surgery in HGH, led the team that worked to reattach the patient's foot.
“This case involved a number of complex procedures that required high-level of expertise and skills. The success of the procedures is both a testament to the skill of our surgical team and the paramedics who attended to the patient at the scene of the accident," he told The Hamad Medical Corporation website.
Paramedics who responded to the emergency call took the necessary measures to preserve the amputated foot by placing it in a temperature-controlled, sterile container.
When the patient arrived at HGH, he was met by a multi-disciplinary team of 11 highly skilled surgeons comprising vascular, orthopaedic, plastics and anaesthesia specialties.
“The patient was briefed on the surgical procedure that would be performed and the associated risks. The first part of the surgery, which took three hours to complete, was performed by orthopaedic surgeons who reattached the severed bones using metal pins and rods. This was done in preparation for reconnecting the severed arteries," Dr Mamoon Abu Samhadanah, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at HGH, told Qatar Tribune.
The metal pins and rods remained in the patient's foot for three months, after which time vascular surgeons performed an eight-hour operation to reconnect the severed arteries and veins using microsurgical techniques.
After the successful completion of the second surgery, surgeons administered skin grafting to the amputated foot to promote faster recovery.
Three months later the patient underwent an additional orthopaedic surgery to further connect his injured ankle to the foot and tibia bone using a metal implant and bone grafts harvested from his femur and pelvis.
Today, the patient, who has undergone a total of five surgeries, is receiving physiotherapy and follow-up care at HGH.
We wish him a fast recovery.
Picture courtesy: Qatar Tribune
My hats off to the surgeons! Great job! Getting a man back on his two feet means a lot. It stops him from being dependent on others for living keeping a smile on his face forever.
Subhanallah and alhmdlillah; good job by the team and inshallah the man recovers fully with no future complications ameen. May Allah protect us all ameen.