A model patient

ASPS Candidate for Membership Kouros Azar, MD, Thousand Oaks, Calif., didn’t expect to put in a 12-hour day, but his patient, Danny Diaz (pictured to the right with his wife), was glad he did. Diaz was flown to Los Robles Regional Medical Center from Camarillo, Calif., after his left arm was nearly severed by the 22-inch-long carbon-fiber propeller on his radio-controlled model airplane. Dr. Azar worked with a trauma team of six doctors and nurses to reattach the arm, which was 80 percent detached at the elbow. After 12 hours of surgery to repair Diaz’s nerves, tendons and muscle, Dr. Azar remarked, “He was very lucky, because he had lost one-half of his blood volume. Thankfully, his fellow hobbyists on the scene applied pressure until the trauma team could take over.” Diaz has a good prognosis, says Dr. Azar. “The thumb is the only thing that has not come back yet, but we’re working on it.”

-Plastic Surgery News
January 2004