Surgery and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Help Restore Boater's Severed Fingertip Oxygen Treatments Aid in Healing and Recovery for Patients
Firaz R. Hosein, D.O. Broward Health
A day out on the boat fishing in January 2021 ended with Lisa Cagle losing the tip of her middle finger. She is back to helping with the boat lines and credits Broward Health North with restoring full use of her finger through surgery and specialized hyperbaric oxygen treatment.
“We were coming back to the dock, my friend had the front of the boat lines and my husband had the back of the boat lines,” said Cagle, a Lighthouse Point resident. “I had the spring line, and I thought it was my turn to put the line in. As soon as I put my finger through the cleat and placed my finger into the line, the engines sprung into gear,” she said. “It’s a massive 45-foot boat, and the surge literally just tore my fingertip and fingernail off.”
Cagle, 58, was rushed to the Emergency Department at Broward Health North, where Jacob S. Landes, D.O., a hand and orthopedic surgeon at Broward Health, surgically reattached her severed middle fingertip. Immediately after, Cagle developed necrosis, which is what happens when an organ or tissue cells die because of lack of blood flow from being detached from the body. After seeing that the tip is necrosing, Dr. Landes recommended hyperbaric oxygen treatment to help preserve her injured finger.
“I am a scuba diver so, of course, my first thought about the hyperbaric treatment was, ‘Isn’t this what they use for the bends?’” Cagle said. Firaz R. Hosein, D.O., the internist who treated Cagle, is impressed by the impact hyperbaric medicine can have on patients. “I’ve had young patients who had a foot crushed in an accident,” Dr. Hosein said. “With hyperbaric treatment, the wound care team has been able to save the injured foot and prevent it from being amputated. That’s an incredibly powerful impact on their life moving forward.”