Mangaluru: 31-year-old Hong Jiangyu, a Chinese crew member who was rescued by Coast Guard on Tuesday, May 16 was received in the casualty of A J Hospital and Research Centre with a history of crush injury to right index finger while at work in a ship, deep sea. The patient was discharged on Thursday, May 18 to fly back to China.

The patient had near total amputation of his finger, which was operated upon immediately by Dr Sanath Bhandary along with Dr Dinesh Kadam, and Dr Gautam Shetty. Fixation of a fractured bone with tendon and microvascular repair was done.

Hand injuries continue to dominate workplace accidents and amputations result in severe incapacitation and disability in young men. The successful re-plant or rejoining of amputated parts requires repair of all structures including bone, tendons, nerves, blood vessels and skin. Most important critical step in this procedure is the restoration of blood circulation. The successful outcome depends on many variables like the type of injury whether crush or clean amputation, the timing of the injury, mode of preservation while transport, availability of expertise and technical difficulties during surgery.

To create public awareness about the possibilities of successful rejoining of amputated parts the hospital urged that the amputated parts are to be transported in a clean polythene bag which is sealed tightly and placed in a container with ice containing water. The parts should not be in direct contact with ice or water.

The appropriate and timely transfer to the hospitals with such facility is invaluable for injured victim to avert a life-long disability and psycho- socio- economic consequences, said hospital.