How do doctors reattach limbs/fingers that have been torn off successfully and restore blood flow
In: Biology
One thing to remember is that media somewhat dramatizes it, it’s a super complex procedure and it’s not like any and every hospital can just easily reattach something.
First they clean it, removing damaged and contaminated tissue.
Then they trim the ends of the bone, trimming is done to the ends because it can make the soft tissue easier to put together.
Then they repair tendons and muscles, they try to save any movement they can, but it’s not always guaranteed.
Then the surgeon will do the arteries, the veins, and the nerves. This is done with ‘microsurgery’ which is exactly as it sounds. Magnification and very special precision tools. It’s usually the most challenging part, and can take a lot of time and patience. It really depends on the condition of the unattached piece if the part can even survive after surgery, letalone work properly. If the vessels are all smashed up then reattaching wont really do anything.
After all is said and done, the skin is quite loosely closed to avoid pressing into the repaired blood vessels when bending. Sometimes they can take skin or other tissue from pars of the body to cover open areas as a skin graft and to help with bloodflow.
After this there is a whole process regarding monitoring, blood thinners, blood tests, and a recovery process before they can even get to therapy to start re-using the limb, since getting something cut off can traumatize and ruin the area for a bit.
A lot of the recovery is dictated on regrowth of sensory nerves, and motor nerves. In a finger replantation, only sensory nerve recovery is necessary since the muscles that control the finger are located in the hand and forearm and tend to not get too damaged by the ordeal. If it’s a much bigger limb, like a hand or arm, the motor nerves must ALSO heal to allow movement.
After all is said and done, nerves grow roughly an inch per month, which gives a good guide on how long everything will take. Usually it will never be completely back to normal, but I guess it’s beter than nothing.
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