A man whose hand was grafted to his groin for two weeks, after a carpentry accident, has regained some hand movement, reports London News.
A report in The Daily Telegraph, medics said the case – involving 17 hours of surgery – as the most complex amputation the surgeons at St George’s Hospital in Tooting had ever dealt with.
Anthony Lelliott, 46, cut through his palm, severing his thumb and first two fingers, during an accident in May with a revolving saw while trimming flooring. The hand was almost completely severed at the base of his palm and again just below his fingers.
Doctors at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, were able to help the carpenter regain the use of his hand after attaching it to his groin for two weeks to help the skin grow back.
Consultant plastic surgeon, Roger Adlard, who was on call when Anthony was rushed to St George’s, called his colleague, Farida Ali, who was not on call but immediately agreed to help when she heard of the severity of the injury.

Mr Adlard said: “When we took him to theatre I realised it was much worse than I’d first thought. “It had been described as a sub-total hand amputation, which was true, however it had it been cut off almost completely in two places – at the base of his palm and again just below the fingers – resulting in a double-level amputation.
“Time was also against us; his detached fingers were getting warm and left too long without blood they would rapidly decompose and be impossible to reattach.
“The next problem was there wasn’t enough skin to cover the exposed delicate microvascular repairs in his palm, so we decided to attach his hand to his groin to borrow skin from there.
“This procedure is called a pedicled groin flap and was performed by another hand surgeon, Jamil Moledina.”
“Mr Moledina cut a section of skin in Anthony’s groin and lifted it like a flap to cover the missing skin from his hand. It was sewn in place and left there for two weeks. Eventually the skin from his groin grew new roots to where it had been transferred to his hand and we were able to cut his hand free.”
Anthony has now begun to regain some movement in his hand. He has regular sessions with St George’s hand therapy team – a group of specialist physiotherapists who are helping to rehabilitate his hand.
[link url="https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/hand-attached-to-groin-in-17-hour-marathon-surgery/"]London News report[/link]
[link url="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/27/plastic-surgeons-save-mans-hand-sewing-groin-two-weeks/?WT.mc_id=e_DM1082619&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FPM_New_ES&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_FPM_New_ES20190827&utm_campaign=DM1082619"]The Daily Telegraph report[/link]