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A new achievement in medical science

New Delhi: The team of expert doctors of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has achieved a unique achievement in medical science. He made a new thumb from the amputated toe of a young man and successfully transplanted it into his hand.

This complex surgery was performed on a 20-year-old youth who had lost his left leg (below the knee) and the thumb of his left hand in a road accident.

The young man was brought to the hospital immediately after the accident, where the trauma team began immediate treatment. Investigation revealed that he had serious injuries to his foot and thumb, due to which it was not possible to reattach them. So the doctors, with the permission of the patient’s family, took a difficult decision—to make a new thumb for the hand using the amputated second toe.

This surgery was done under the leadership of Dr. Mahesh Mangle, head of the plastic, cosmetic and microsurgery department of the hospital. The team included Dr. Nikhil Jhunjhunwala (Consultant, Head and Microsurgeon), Dr. Arjun Krishna (DNB Resident) and Dr. Rishika Bachani (DNB Resident).

Doctors say the surgery was not only successful in restoring function of the hand, but also improved the patient’s quality of life by using the limb that could not be saved.

Microsurgery was introduced in the Department of Plastic Surgery of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in 1981. Dr. Mangle said that since then the department has become a major center for reimplantation (reattaching amputated organs) in the country.