Groundbreaking Surgery: Man's Hand Transplanted To Ankle After Tragic Accident

In a medical miracle that gained global attention, doctors in Changsha, China performed a ground-breaking operation to temporarily transplant a man's hand to his ankle. The procedure was performed after a tragic accident that broke a man's arm and caused irreparable damage.

The patient, Xiao Wei, 27, was taken to a hospital in China's Hunan province after an industrial accident involving heavy machinery resulted in the amputation of his right arm.

Doctors encountered a daunting challenge because the hand had been detached for several hours, greatly reducing the likelihood of successfully reattaching it directly to the arm.

Doctors decided to temporarily graft Xiao Wei's severed hand to his ankle to preserve the hand and its tissues while allowing time for Xiao Wei to stabilize and for further surgical planning.

However, doctors hoped that he would regain full function of his hand.

Complex Hand Reattachment Surgery

Doctors reported to BBC that his injury was severe, involving ripping injuries and flattening of his arm. They had to clear and treat his injuries before proceeding with the hand reattachment surgery.

The procedure, lasting several hours, involved surgeons connecting the hand's arteries, veins, and tendons to those in Xiao Wei's ankle. This intricate surgery was crucial to maintain the hand's viability for its eventual reattachment to its original site on Xiao Wei's arm.

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Medical experts emphasized that such surgeries are rare and technically complex but crucial in cases where immediate reattachment is not feasible.

Temporary grafting allows the injured tissues to remain alive and functional, thereby increasing the chances of achieving a successful long-term recovery.

Mr. Cairian Healy of the Royal College of Surgeons in England informed the BBC that while procedures like these were rare, they were not impossible.

He noted, 'The Chinese have considerable experience in microsurgery.'

Medical experts widely recognize the concept of saving a severed part of the body by attaching it to another part of the body to provide it with a blood supply.

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