Recently, doctors from the Orthopedics Department at the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital performed emergency surgery for a 30-month-old girl who suffered crushing injuries and severed tendons in two fingers of her left hand after accidentally getting caught in the water inlet of the family’s water purifier.
Baby girl named M.C (30 months old, from Phu Tho province). The patient’s father stated that the family used a water purifier with a stainless steel casing, designed by the manufacturer with two openings on each side for water inlet and outlet, with sharp edges covered with rubber but had been peeled off by M.C before. On the evening of December 5, 2023, while playing, M.C climbed onto the water purifier to get water to drink when she accidentally slipped and fell. After the fall, the second and third fingers of her left hand got stuck in the water purifier’s water inlet, causing injuries and severe bleeding. The family provided initial first aid and rushed her to the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital for emergency treatment.
Dr. Nguyen Vu Hoang, from the Orthopedics Department at the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, who directly performed the surgery on the patient, stated: Upon receiving and examining the injuries to the patient’s left hand, the doctors found that the injuries were very complex: exposed bones, severed tendons of the second and third fingers of the left hand. Immediately that night, the surgical team decided to perform emergency surgery on the patient.
The surgery lasted 2.5 hours and yielded good results. During the operation, the doctors trimmed soft tissues, deeply reattached the severed tendons, created a pulley-like structure, sutured soft tissue to cover the finger skin, and applied a splint and bandage to stabilize the fingers. This was a relatively challenging surgery due to the narrow area of tendon damage, very small blood vessels and nerves, moreover, the transverse injuries to the second and third phalanges of the second and third fingers of the left hand, severing the tendons completely, with extensive, deep, and crushed soft tissues… if not timely reconnected, the fingers would lose function, and reduced blood supply to the soft tissues would lead to finger necrosis.
“After the surgery, the child was administered antibiotics, anti-swelling medication, and the wound dressing was changed every 3 days to evaluate the surgical wound, and to start active and passive finger bending and stretching exercises early. After more than a week of treatment, the wound dried up, the fingertips were warm and pink, the child’s health improved well, and she was discharged from the hospital. However, for the fingers to regain normal function, the child still needs a treatment process involving splinting, dressing changes, and functional rehabilitation in stages,” said Dr. Nguyen Vu Hoang.
Dr. Nguyen Vu Hoang examined patient M.C at the Orthopedics Department of the National Children’s Hospital.
According to Dr. Nguyen Vu Hoang, young children are often active, curious, lacking in knowledge and prevention skills, making them prone to accidents and injuries. In the Orthopedics Department, every year, many cases of children suffering from various degrees of accidents and injuries due to activities are treated. Many cases suffer minor injuries that can be recovered with treatment, however, there are severe cases that cannot be recovered such as severed fingers, hands, feet, toes, or even life-threatening accidents.
Therefore, to prevent accidents and injuries for children, parents or caregivers need to observe and comprehensively evaluate the child’s living environment to ensure safety, pay attention to situations that may pose risks to children such as knives, glassware, risk factors for burns such as hot water kettles, boiling pots, power outlets, sharp objects, etc., to keep them away from the children’s play area. In addition, when taking children out of their familiar living environment, parents or caregivers need to keep them under supervision, observing everywhere, all the time.
In case of accidents, when a child is unfortunate, it is necessary to apply wound dressing to the child and immediately contact the emergency department of Children’s Hospitals through the system website and promptly bring the child to the nearest specialized pediatric emergency medical facility for timely treatment and management.
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