Brazilian surgeons save hand of worker in factory accident by implanting limb in stomach

Brazilian surgeons saved the hands of 42-year-old Carlos Mariotti, a factory worker, by implanting it in a pocket in the machine operator’s stomach. Mariotti’s two fingers were cut when his hand was sucked into a machine.

The Telegraph reports that co-workers of Mariotti took out his hand out of the machinery and wrapped it in bandage. He was then rushed to the Santa Otilia Hospital in southern Brazil for treatment. Boris Brandao, a traumatology and orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, embedded Mariotti’s hand in a pocket created in his stomach.

The left hand was buried inside his abdomen and covered with a flap of protective skin. Mariotti’s de-gloving injury left him with little skin on the palm and back of his hand which exposed its bones and tendons, according Brandao, reports The Independent.

The surgeon explains that because Mariotti’s injury was very large and delicate, the only place which could fit his whole hand was in the abdomen. “Without this procedure, there would a high risk of infection and the tissue and tendons would rot away.”

The hand will remain inside for 42 days to grow new tissues and tendons. Brandao says they hope to find a way to save the hand by giving it a skin graft which was previously successfully done in China in July. The Chinese worker’s hand was grafted to his ankle for one month before it was re-attached to his arm. The grafting allowed the tendons and nerves to heal.

Brandao says that while Mariotti would not get full movement back, he would have a working hand and would be able to do the pincer movement. He would still be able to hold a fork, grip a steering wheel and dress himself without help after the wound heals. “At least this is a better quality of life compared to having an amputated hand,” says the surgeon.

Mariotti says when he woke up after the surgery, he didn’t know if his hand was still there. “I couldn’t believe it when they said they had tucked my hand inside me,” he says. To keep the arm firmly in place, doctors wrapped heavy bandages around Mariotti’s midriff, although the physicians advised him to move the hand gently around to avoid the limb from becoming stiff.