A complex reconstructive surgery saved a motherโ€™s life

Afaf Al Thufairi arrived in the UK from Kuwait and was first admitted to the Royal Free London Private Patients Unit in 2022, for gangrene on both hands and feet, developed as a result of acute Covid illness and prolonged intensive care. Gangrene is a serious condition where a loss of blood supply causes body tissue to die. If left untreated it can result in life threatening infection.

Afaf, mother of 7 children, was bed bound and seriously unwell when she first came to the Royal Free London Private Patients Unit, and was admitted under the care of Dr Peter Dupont, nephrology consultant, and Prof George Hamilton, vascular surgeon.

She was referred to Mr Dariush Nikkhah a renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon to manage her complex wounds and to save her left hand. The gangrene of her limbs required amputations of all her four limbs. Mr Nikkhah performed staged amputations of her lower limbs first below the knee and in a second operation he amputated the necrotic tissue from her right hand and a partial amputation of her left hand. Mr Nikkhah managed to save most of Afafโ€™s left hand in the second operation using carefully planned flap reconstruction. These operations not only saved Afafโ€™s life as she was suffering from infection due to gangrene but also saved part of her hand which helped in her rehabilitation.

 

Our international & nursing team members bid
Mrs Al Thufairi farewell with a beautiful bouquet of
flowers and a card holding their sincere wishes of a
continued recovery.
Our international & nursing team members bid Mrs Al Thufairi farewell with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card holding their sincere wishes of a continued recovery.

Afaf was looked after by the Royal Free London Private Patients Unitโ€™s multidisciplinary team led by Dr Peter Dupont, Mr Dariush Nikkhah, Miss Fiona McCaig, Mr Vibhash Mishra, Prof Hamilton, our specialist hand therapist Meera Anandkat, and our Royal Free London Private Patients Unitโ€™s physiotherapy team.

After almost two years of treatment, Afaf is no longer bed bound. She is independently mobile having had prosthetic limbs fitted as well as having mastered controlling her electric wheelchair.

Following the tremendous success of this life changing treatment and rehabilitation journey, Afaf travelled back home to her home country Kuwait accompanied by her family and will finally see her children again.

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