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• 08 / 08 / 2008

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Horta, 18, working in a lime quarry, got his arm caught in a roller when he tried to eliminate a stone which prevented the equipment from operating normally.

“I tried to remove it but the machine pulled it harder each time. I felt how it was separated from my body and then I fainted, remembering nothing more”, he said.

Horta was transfered to the said hospital, about 100 miles east of Havana where he was attended by an angiologist, a vascular surgeon, an orthopaedic specialist and an anesthesist.

Doctor Lester Perez explained he began a race against time, as the patient arrived with the amputated arm in a complex situation.

“The wound was in the upper arm, something less frequent. We received the patient in shock, took him out of it and started to operate on him”, he added.

The team divided in two, one attending to the arm and the other the rest of the body, until they succeeded in stabilizing the collarbone with a metal sheet.

According to the specialist, a second surgery will be needed to transplant nerves and achieve the total function of the arm.

The surgeon said meanwhile they decided to apply the new technique of mother cells to improve the condition of the tissues. After surgery, Horta remained with assisted breathing for six days and stayed 18 days in intensive care.

“I feel well, but a little strange because I do not feel the arm. Anyway I am happy and hopeful of a full recovery”, said Horta.

(ACN)