Meanwhile... Chinese Doctors Save A Man's Severed Hand By Attaching It To His Ankle
Doctors in China attached a man's severed hand to his leg to keep it "alive" while his arm had time to repair from the severe damage it sustained in an industrial accident.
By Sadho Ram — 17 Dec 2013, 01:45 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Chinese doctors saved a man's severed hand by grafting it to his ankle for a month
Xiao Wei lost his right hand in an accident at work but could not have it reattached to his arm right away.
ninemsn.com.au
Instead, the hand was kept alive by stitching it to Mr Wei's left ankle and "borrowing" a blood supply from arteries in the leg.
It's growing on me ... Xiao Wei recovers in hospital after the amazing procedure.
Image via news.com.auA month later, surgeons were able to remove the hand and replant it back on his arm, according to Rex Features.
express.co.uk
Doctors say he will need to undergo several other operations but they are hopeful that he will regain full function of his hand
"His injury was severe. Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened."
newser.com
"We had to clear and treat his injuries before taking on the hand reattachment surgery."
hngn.com
Xiao Wei said: "I am still young, and I couldn't imagine life without a right hand."
While he will need to undergo several other operations, doctors are confident Mr Wei will regain full use of his reattached hand.
Image via dailymail.co.uk"I was just shocked and frozen at the spot, until co-workers unplugged the machine and retrieved my hand and took me to the hospital," Wei told media after the surgery. "I am still young, and I couldn't imagine life without a right hand."
dailymail.co.ukMr Cairian Healy said although procedures such as these were rare, they were not inconceivable
"The Chinese are pretty experienced in microsurgery," he said.
"And the concept of saving a severed part of the body by attaching it to another part of the body to give it a blood supply is well recognised."
ninemsn.com.au
A Chinese man who had his right hand severed in a work accident had it attached to his ankle for a month to keep it alive.
Image via dailymail.co.uk"The ankle is a hard place to graft though. Usually surgeons would go for the armpit because the blood supply is better."
He said there were many reasons why a surgeon might not want or be able to reattach a hand to its rightful home straightaway.
"The patient might not be fit enough for the surgery. It can take a skilled surgeon between eight and 15 hours to reattach a hand."
Earlier this year, a teenage girl who became disfigured after a severe burn as a child was able to grow a new face on her breast, and a man grew a nose on his forehead following a traffic accident
In a photo taken September 2013, 22-year-old Xiaolian displays the new nose doctors constructed on his forehead after he lost his original nose due to infection.
Image via nydailynews.com