Doctors in China were able to save a man's severed hand by temporarily attaching it to his ankle.
Xiao Wei, a factory worker from Changde, China, accidentally severed his right hand at the wrist and smashed his arm in a machine while at work in November.
"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 said, the New York Daily News reported.
Wei was first taken to a local hospital in Changde. Doctors said they could not save his hand, the Daily Mail reported. But they recommend that another, larger hospital in the Changsha area might be able to help him.
Doctors at the Changsha hospital told Wei they would not be able to reattach his hand right away. They stitched Wei's hand to his ankle and, "borrowing" blood from his leg's arteries, keep the hand alive, BBC News reported.
In the meantime, Wei was able to have his other injuries treated.
"His injury was severe. Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened" one of Wei's doctors said, the Daily Mail reported. "We had to clear and treat his injuries before taking on the hand reattachment surgery."
Clairian Healy of the Royal College of Surgeons told the BBC doctors may be hesitant to immediately reattach a limb for several reasons.
"The patient might not be fit enough for surgery," Healy said. "It can take a skilled surgeon between eight and 15 hours to reattach a hand."
A month after being attached to Wei's ankle, doctors say they are ready to reattach his hand. Wei will have to go through several operations before he regains full control of his hand, but doctors have hope the procedures will be successful.
"I'm still young," said Wei, the Daily Mail reported, "I couldn't imagine life without a right hand."
Photos of Wei and his hand attached to his ankle here
