A woman has regained the use of her hand after it was completely severed by a coconut-chopping machine.
Known only as Santha, 58, she was working in a coconut-oil factory on January 12 when her left arm slipped into the machine and her hand was chopped clean off.
Her quick-thinking colleagues rushed Santha, and her hand, to hospital where surgeons spent seven hours reattaching the appendage.
Six weeks after the incident, Santha, from Iiritty, India, has regained 80 per cent of her hand’s functionality.
After spending 12 days in hospital, she is expected to make a full recovery.
Dr Krishnakumar, senior consultant at the head, plastic and reconstructive surgery department, at Aster MIMS hospital said: ‘It was the presence of mind displayed by Santha’s colleagues to bring the cut off palm in a bag of ice along with the patient [that] was the crucial thing in this case.’
A woman has regained the use of her left hand after it was completely severed by a machine
Santha (pictured in the wheelchair surrounded by the medical staff who treated her) was working in a coconut-oil factory on January 12 when her hand slipped and was chopped off
Man born without hand received deceased donor’s
This comes after a man born without a hand was given one from a deceased donor in what surgeons claimed was a world first back in December 2016.
The 32-year-old, who spent his life without his left hand, underwent a 13-hour procedure to have the new limb attached.
Dr Adam Domanasiewicz, who headed the operation at Wroclaw Medical University, Poland, said: ‘It is the first graft in the world of an upper limb onto an adult with this congenital defect.
‘We are talking about a man who lived 32 years without this member.
‘This is an important breakthrough in neurophysiology and the practice of transplants because up to now it was thought that – in the case of this type of congenital defect – such grafts could not be done.’
According to Dr Domanasiewicz, the operation could open up new possibilities to the hundreds of thousands of people born without hands whose only option has been prostheses.
Surgeons spent seven hours reattaching the appendage after it arrived in hospital on ice
After spending 12 days in hospital, Santha is expected to make a full recovery
Surgeons said bringing the hand on ice was critical to them being able to reattach it