Man's Severed Hand Is Grafted Onto His Leg to Keep It Alive

A man has had his hand successfully grafted back on to his wrist after a month of it being attached to his leg.

The hand was attached to his leg so the nerves and tendons could heal from the trauma they experienced after it was chopped off during a work accident.

The accident happened in China when a factory worker called Zhou came into contact with a spinning blade machine.

He was rushed to the Xiangya Hospital in Changsha where doctors assessed his situation.

Dr Tang Juyu, head of microsurgery at the hospital, decided he could give Zhou a chance to 'revive' his lost hand - with an operation he and his team had already successfully performed once in 2013 under similar circumstances.

Because both Zhou's arm and hand were badly wounded following the accident, the doctors were unable to attach it back onto his wrist right away so opted to let the nerves and tendons heal with time.

Dr Tang explained: 'Under normal temperatures, a severed finger needs to resume blood supply within 10 hours, but that time is even shorter for a separated limb.

'If a limb is short of blood for too long, its tissues die and it will be unsalvageable.'

After the hand was given time to heal, it was successfully reattached to Zhou's arm in a 10-hour surgery.

According to the Dr Tang, Zhou is now able to move his fingers slightly, but he will still need much rehabilitation before regaining full use of his hand.

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