Life saving surgery by suturing a slit throat performed at Apollo Hospitals Chennai !

Super specialists of Apollo Hospitals gave a new lease of life to a 52 year old woman who suffered a severe throat injury. The patient had an open cut throat with her food and wind pipes sliced in a chain snatching incident. Apollo Specialists performed a complicated surgery to bring back life and voice into her.

52 year old Shanthi (Name changed), a resident of Korukkupet, was brought to Apollo Hospitals with a deep cut in her throat, leaving her voice box, food pipe and wind pipe completely sliced. A team of doctors under the supervision of Dr. M. Babu Manohar, Senior Consultant ENT, Head & Neck Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals performed a 4 hour surgery on her.

Shanthi, wife of Ganapathy an imitation jewellery retailer, was engrossed into business in their shop near Korukupet, while a man in guise of a customer snatched her 10 sovereign chain and cut off her throat to run away. Shanthi was immediately rushed to Apollo Hospitals, Tondiarpet for first aid and then was brought to Apollo Main Hospital, Chennai for further treatment.

Due to the deep injury in her throat, Shanthi sustained heavy blood loss and severe suffocation as her wind pipe was totally sliced. A team of doctors examined her and the ENT Surgeon performed a surgery to mend the voice box, food and wind pipes.

According to Dr. Babu Manohar, Senior Consultant, ENT Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, “”As Shanthi had the deep cut from beside her right ear down into the mid part of the neck crossing onto the left side, cutting through many big blood vessels and nerves posed a life or death situation. It also led to a complete paralysis of the right side of her face””.

He further explained, “”We thought about to remove the voice box in such complicated situation, but for Shanthi, we did not do so. Instead we patched up the cut off nerves, veins and also the voice box to ensure her speech is restored. Reconstruction of the upper part of the food pipe was under taken to restore the normal swallowing mechanism. We also performed an additional surgery to rectify the paralysis on her face””.

Post a 4 hour complicated surgery and 40 days of serious observation Shanthi is now completely well, breathing normally and swallowing normally and is able to carry on her day to day activities.

Message from Apollo Hospitals :

• Our well equipped Reach Hospitals can take up such case -stabilize.
• Apollo main hospital- emergency is there to receive & stabilize and coordinate multidisciplinary super specialists to save the life.
• Credit to paramedics who go in the ambulance to attend the patient on site.
• In such instances the initial few minutes make all the difference.

Message to the public :

• Invest the money in gold- it is appreciating well.
• Do not wear it in such quantity and invite threat to the life.
• It is wrong to steal-it is equally wrong to induce stealing.