Chinese doctors have successfully saved a man's severed hand by temporarily grafting it to his ankle, according to reports. Xiao Wei lost his right hand in a workplace accident, but surgeons were unable to reattach it immediately due to the severity of the injury.
Instead, the hand was stitched to Mr Wei's left ankle, where it 'borrowed' a blood supply from arteries in the leg to keep the tissue alive. After a month, surgeons removed the hand and replanted it onto his arm, as reported by Rex Features.
Doctors from the Changsha region, where the surgery took place, stated that Mr Wei will require several more operations, but they are hopeful he will regain full function of his hand. 'His injury was severe. Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened. We had to clear and treat his injuries before taking on the hand reattachment surgery,' they explained.
Mr Cairian Healy of the Royal College of Surgeons in England commented that while such procedures are rare, they are not unheard of. 'The Chinese are pretty experienced in microsurgery. The concept of saving a severed part of the body by attaching it to another part to give it a blood supply is well recognised,' he said. However, he noted that the ankle is a challenging grafting site, with the armpit being more common due to better blood supply.
Mr Healy also highlighted that reattachment surgery can take between eight and 15 hours, and that not all replantations are successful. Some patients may later opt for amputation due to side effects such as pain and stiffness.
