Vet slices off fingers

2003-06-09 13:05

Antoinette Pienaar

Pretoria - A well-known veterinarian specialist surgeon from Pretoria is in intensive care at Jacaranda Hospital after four of his fingers, which he cut off with a strap saw, were reattached in a marathon operation lasting about 13 hours.

Dr Hans van der Zee, 41, was doing woodwork in his garage on Saturday morning when the accident happened.

His wife, Lielie, said on Sunday that she thought he was joking when he phoned her from the garage on his cellphone.

"He said: 'Just bring the car, just bring the car!' and became incoherent.

"When I saw him, he had already made a tourniquet from a rubber pipe and tied it around his arm.

"He had picked up his fingers, wrapped them in a cloth and nearly lost consciousness while I helped him to the car.

"On the way to Pretoria East Hospital, he asked me to phone Dr Jan van Wingerden, a reconstructive plastic surgeon experienced in hand operations.

"When we arrived at casualty, he was so confused that he wanted to pack out his fingers next to each stump because he was afraid that they would attach the wrong finger to the wrong joint."

While Van der Zee was stabilised at Pretoria East, Van Wingerden fetched the fingers to prepare them at Jacaranda Hospital.

Less than three hours after the accident, they were in theatre.

Van Wingerden said on Sunday that the bone of each finger was connected with plates, before the veins, nerves and sinews were joined.

"Doctor Tjaart Venter coped with a very difficult anaesthetic, because he had to keep the hand warm while still keeping the blood pressure as high as possible.

"Doctor Tienie van Rooyen, one of the best micro-surgeons in the country, connected the blood vessels of each finger under a microscope."

Van Wingerden said the first 72 hours after the operation were crucial.

If the blood supply is maintained, it takes a few months for the nerves to grow back, but a hand therapist will then have to help him to regain use of the hand.

Van der Zee is renowned for his neurosurgery on Dachshunds with spinal problems and operations on wild animals.

He operated virtually every week on animals brought in from as far as Kimberley, Vaalwater and Tzaneen.

- Beeld