Cuttack: In a first-of-its-kind surgery, the doctors of SCB Medical College and Hospital here gave a new lease of life to a 15-month-old girl born with a rare congenital hand anomaly.
The infant, Smruti Rekha Pradhan of Chatabara village in Deogarh district, had only four fingers on her right hand. The thumb was grossly under developed and non-functioning.
After conducting several tests, the doctors of plastic surgery department of SCB decided to perform a surgery on her, wherein the index finger was shortened and transferred to the position of thumb through micro-surgical technique (Pollicisation).
The surgery, which was conducted last week, lasted for around three hours. The team was led by Bibhuti Nayak.
The new thumb started functioning in a week, said Nayak, adding that they were not able to undertake such procedures earlier due to lack of operating microscope.
