Old is gold: Krukenberg operation performed in a tertiary setup in India for the rehabilitation of the amputated hand of a poor patient

Abstract

It is a known fact that a disabled person is a greater burden to society than a dead person. Krukenberg operation, first described by German army surgeon in 1917, Hermann Krukenberg, converts a forearm stump into a pincer, so as to retain some dexterity of the hand rather than it being reduced to a mere stump. We report this case of Krukenberg operation performed in a tertiary care setup, wherein an amputated forearm stump was converted into a functional pincer that can result in huge advantage for poor amputee patients in developing countries who rely heavily on the functionality of their hands to earn their everyday meal and are unable to bear the expense of costly prosthesis. One such patient, a 25-year-old male hailing from a very poor background who came to us with traumatic amputation of his dominant hand.

Keywords

• Krukenberg operation
• Social rehabilitation
• Functional rehabilitation