Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

A young factory worker had his left hand cut in two in a horrific paper cutting machine accident that “ripped out his blood vessels, tendons and nerves.”

Picture Credits: AsiaWire

The unnamed paper plant worker, aged 21, was transferred between two medical facilities and waited six hours with a severed left palm before finally arriving at the Second Hospital of Shandong University where doctors managed to reattach his hand.

The hospital in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province in East China, gave the patient priority status on 31st March.

Head surgeon Cao Songhua said: “The patient injured himself while operating a paper cutting machine.

“He severed his entire palm, causing excessive bleeding and ripping out his blood vessels, tendons and nerves.”

Cao, who called the operation “difficult”, spent eight hours looking through a microscope while slowly reattaching his left palm to the rest of his hand.

He added: “It was a complex operation because of how many bones were broken.

“If you imagine that each bone has two to three tendons, and each finger has two arteries and two to three veins, four fingers becomes a big challenge.”

Cao and his team reattached the severed palm, including his fingers and blood vessels, and finally sutured his skin.

However, he is still waiting to call the operation a complete success.

Cao said: “It’s vital that his vessels pump blood into his hand. 

“The best case scenario is the full recovery of his hand and finger functions. But we’ll keep monitoring his condition.”

The medic said they would have to observe the patient for up to seven days to confirm that his hand – and by extension his career – had been successfully rescued.