Israeli surgeons reattach Arab boy’s head after internal decapitation

Studies suggest that over half of children and adolescents do not survive the condition, also known as bilateral atlantooccipital joint dislocation

Tel Aviv: Surgeons at the Hadassah Medical Center-Ein Kerem have managed to reattach a boy’s head after a horrific accident left him internally decapitated.

A car hit Suleiman Hassan, a 12-year-old Arab from the Judea and Samaria region, as he rode his bike, the Jerusalem hospital announced.

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After he was airlifted to Hadassah’s trauma unit, doctors discovered that the ligaments holding the rear base of his skull were seriously damaged, leaving it disconnected from the top vertebrae of his spine.

The injury is extremely rare, but we do know that because children between ages four and ten have heads that are large in relation to their bodies, they are more susceptible than adults, Dr Ohad Einav, the orthopaedic specialist who led the extremely rare surgery together with Dr Ziv Asa, said.

Studies suggest that over half of children and adolescents do not survive the condition, also known as bilateral atlantooccipital joint dislocation.

We fought for the boy’s life, Einav added. While in the operating room, we used new plates and fixations in the damaged area. Our ability to save the child was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room. Showing no neurologic or motor deficiencies, Hassan was recently discharged from the hospital. But Hadassah doctors will continue to monitor him.

Hassan’s father did not leave his bedside during his recovery from surgery, medical staff reported. I will thank you all my life for saving my dear only son. Bless you all, he said.

Thanks to you he regained his life even when the odds were low and the danger was obvious. What saved him were professionalism, technology and quick decision-making by the trauma and orthopaedics team, the Palestinian father said.