Dr. Anshuman Manaswi
Sr. Consultant
Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery
Nanavati Super Speciality
Hospital, Mumbai

THE CASE

46 year old Santosh Shetty was driving his bike on a highway on the day of Makar Sankranti, when the string (Chinese manja) of a fl ying kite coated with powdered glass entangled his neck. He refl exly brought his hand in front of his face to save himself and what followed was profuse bleeding from his middle fi nger which was nearly amputated. A passerby helped him ride the bike and took him to a nearby hospital, where he was given fi rst aid and was then referred to Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital. On examination it was found that all the tendons, nerves and arteries of his middle fi nger were cut and the fi nger was not viable. Except for bone and a small part of the skin, all the structures had been cut.

THE PROCEDURE

The patient was immediately operated upon in emergency setting by the Plastic Surgery team of Nanavati Hospital led by Senior Consultant Dr. Anshuman Manaswi and Dr. Parag Vibhakar with micro vascular plastic surgical techniques. All the structures including minute nerves and vessels were joined to save his fi nger. The operation lasted for 6 hours. The chemical content of string caused more severe injury in the lining of the blood vessels making the surgery more challenging.

THE RESULT

After about one and a half months of healing and post-operative physiotherapy, Mr. Shetty’s fi nger is almost back to normal. The sensation and strength will take a few more weeks to recover.