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Senior lecturer from KNUST Department of Surgery leads a team to successfully perform a complex limb malfunction surgery at the KATH

Published 30 May 2023 News
Dr. Dominic Konadu Yeboah

 

Dr Dominic Konadu-Yeboah, a Senior Lecturer at the KNUST Department of Surgery and a Senior Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedic, has led a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, paediatricians and nurses to perform a six-hour-long operation to repair a complex congenital limb malformation, known in medicine as polymelia, on a five-month-old baby at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) on 20th February 2023.

The baby was delivered at a district hospital through caesarean section and was, subsequently, referred to KATH four hours after birth. In addition to the polymelia, the baby also had abnormal positioning of the right kidney, anorectal malformation, a genital fistula and an eye visual problem.

Polymelia is the presence of supernumerary (extra) limbs attached to a segment of the body. It is a rare limb malformation that occurs in about 6 per 10,000 live births.  A few cases have been reported to occur in the lower limbs. Polymelia has a heterogenous pathogenesis including incomplete separation of identical twins in the womb during baby formation. It is called pyromelia when the extra limbs are attached to the pelvis.

Commenting on this rare feat by the team, Dr Konadu-Yeboah said there were extensive discussions and education on the condition of the baby with the parents prior to the surgery. Psychological counselling, including the procedure, outcomes and possible complications, was also provided to the family by a team of experts.

 

KATH doctors conduct 6-hour successful surgery on 5-month-old baby born with 4 legs
KATH doctors conduct 6-hour successful surgery on a 5-month-old baby born with 4 legs

 

He said after five months of intensive preparations and pre-operative investigations, including Computer Tomography (C.T.), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (M.R.I.), and echo and ultrasound scans to look for other possible associated abnormalities, the complex surgical repair operation finally came off.

Dr Konadu-Yeboah is a Fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons as well as of the West African College of Surgeons. He has an Educational Fellowship in Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Utah Orthopaedic Centre, Saltlake City, USA. Dr Konadu-Yeboah has an Educational Fellowship in Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty from Appollo Hospital, Hyderabad, India and also an OrthoCarolina Fellowship from Carolinas Health Care Centre, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. He has an AO trauma fellowship at the University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health.