A 55-year-old Italian has recovered the use of a paralyzed hand with the transplantation of the nerves of a foot thanks to an operation carried out for the first time of the world at the CTO Hospital in Turin, northwest Italy.
The patient suffered an amputation of half of his left leg and a complete injury to the brachial plexus of his left arm following a traffic accident. The procedure followed by the doctors, defined as a pioneerinvolved the transfer of part of the Sciatic nerve from the amputated foot to the upper body.
Now they explain: “The patient You will be able to learn step by step to control the use of the hand: in the first phase he will think about the movements of the foot, but later he will develop the new skill thanks to the adaptability of the brain.
In the operation, that lasted twelve hoursmicrosurgeons Bruno Battiston and Paolo Title and neurosurgeons Francesca Vincitorio and Diego Garbossa took part and the rehabilitation phase is carried out under the supervision of specialists Physical medicine and rehabilitation.
“The process has its roots in four years of intensive researchwhich culminated in its publication in the prestigious international journal Injury and the approval of its clinical use by the Ethics Committee of Città della Salute,” they added.
In detail, the operation consists of: Transposition of a component of the sciatic nerve, the peroneal part that normally controls dorsiflexion of the foot but was not used due to the leg amputation. This targeted nerve transfer from the amputated leg to the paralyzed arm was intended to reinnervate the leg damaged brachial plexuswhich paves the way for functional reactivation,” they explain in a statement quoted by Agencia Efe.