Surgeon Grafts Man's Hand Onto Foot to Save it After Accident

A Chinese worker spent a month with his hand grafted onto his foot, after a work accident tore it off.

According to the BBC, Xiao Wei, a Chinese worker, lost his hand in an accident with a machine at his workplace in Changde, China.

"I was in shock, paralyzed", Wei said, according Metro. "My colleagues unplugged the machine and I recovered my hand and then they took me to the hospital".

The accident took place last month in Changde, in South-Central China. After he was taken to the hospital, doctors decided to take him to the regional hospital in Hunan, where a team of experts decided to use a treatment rarely seen.

To guarantee blood flow to the amputated extremity, the Hunan experts grafted Wei's hand to his ankle while they rebuilt his arm, which had been crushed in the accident.

The BBC notes that the complicated process lasted just over a month before surgeons removed the hand and reattached it to the worker's arm. However, medics say that Wei's recovery is far from over.

The Hunan surgeons must carry out various surgeries before their patient can fully recover his arm.

"His injury was great. Besides scratches, his arm was crushed flat. We had to clean and treat his injuries before reattaching his hand," Xiao Wei's doctors said. 

For many years, Chinese surgeons have stood out around the globe for their great experience in microsurgery, one of the most difficult types of surgery, which uses optical magnification tools and the use of precise instruments.