Department of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, SKIMS achieved a rare feat after performing its first “Microvascular Toe to Hand Transplant Surgery” successfully. The highly specialised and skilled procedure lasted about 12 hours. This surgery is technically very challenging and even the minutest of error can result in loss of the reconstructed digit.
The surgery involves removal of a toe from foot along with its microvasculature (arteries and veins for blood supply), nerves (for sensation) and tendons (for movement) and transplanting the toe to the nonfunctional hand with deficient digits to make it functional. After stable bony fixation, the vessels and nerves from the toe are then anastomosed (microvascular anastomosis) under high resolution microscope (20 X) to the vessels and nerves of hand using specialized microsurgical instruments to reconstruct a functional finger. A successful surgery helps a patient to carry out daily activities like eating, gripping, lifting and other vital functions performed by the hand.
At the same time the donor foot does not suffer from any functional impairment and the patient can walk normally. The transplant surgery was performed at SKIMS on a 20-year-old male to reconstruct the index finger of his right hand using the second toe of his right foot. The patient had suffered machine injury which crushed all the fingers of his right hand except the thumb a year back.
Only the little finger could be reimplanted and salvaged at the time o.