Doctors reattach ‘decapitated’ boy’s HEAD after a 12-year-old boy was hit by a car while riding a bike in Israel
Doctors in Israel have reattached a boy’s head after he was hit by a car while riding a bicycle.
Twelve-year-old Palestinian Suleiman Hassan, from the West Bank, suffered an internal beheading, where the base of his skull and the top of his spine were detached, but the skin is still intact.
Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Internal decapitation occurs when a sudden impact to the head tears the ligaments and muscles that hold the skull in position in the upper vertebrate spine.
The injury is very rare, accounting for less than one percent of spinal injuries.
Doctors said Suleiman’s head was “almost completely detached from the base of his neck.” He underwent a detailed surgery carried out by an intensive care team that lasted several hours.
Dr. Ohad Einav and Ziv Asa with 12-year-old Suleiman Hassan at Hadassah Medical Center after having his head reattached.
Suleiman was riding a bicycle when a car hit him. He was airlifted to Hadassah Ein Kerem Trauma Unit in Jerusalem and immediately underwent surgery.
His injury was repaired in early June, but the Jerusalem hospital waited a month to announce the results.
The true incidence of internal decapitation is unknown, as 70 percent of victims die instantly or on the way to the hospital.
“We are fighting for the child’s life,” said Dr. Ohad Einav, one of the surgeons who operated on the patient. The Times of Israel.
Surgery is only possible if the major blood vessels are still intact, as blood flow to the brain must be preserved.
A study of internal decapitations in children at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recorded 16 of the injuries in 17 years.
The injury is treated by fusing the skull and spine together using rods, screws, plates, and possibly bone grafts.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine and practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News contributor, told Fox News Digital that the surgery is “unbelievable.”
Fortunately, Dr. Einav had recently returned from a fellowship in Toronto where he had performed the surgery on adults.
Dr Einav said: ‘The procedure itself is very complicated and took several hours. While in the operating room, we used new plates and fixations on the damaged area…
‘Our ability to save the child was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room.’
After surgery, patients will go through rehabilitation to help them regain movement in their neck.
Suleiman was discharged with a cervical splint and doctors will continue to monitor his recovery.
He has no neurological deficits or sensory or motor dysfunction and can walk without assistance.
Suleiman’s father, who did not leave his son’s bed during his recovery, said: “I will thank you all my life for saving my dear only son.” Bless everyone.
‘Thanks to you, he got his life back even when the odds were low and the danger was obvious. What saved him was the professionalism, technology and quick decision making by the trauma and orthopedic team. All I can say is a big thank you.
According to a 2015 review study, internal decapitation is three times more common in children than in adults.
