Australians surgeons reattach boy’s foot, hands

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An operation to simultaneously reattach an Australian boy’s foot and both his hands after a freak basketball accident was a success with the boy’s fingers and toes alive and pink, surgeons said on Monday.

Ten-year-old Terry Vo’s hands and left foot were cut off when a brick wall supporting a basketball backboard gave way as he executed a slam dunk at a friend’s birthday party in Perth, the Western Australian state capital, on Saturday.

The weight and force of the collapse, and the sharp brick edges and a broken metal rain gutter, cut Vo’s three limbs just above the wrists and ankle.

Vo underwent microsurgery at Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children on Saturday night and a further two hours of skin grafts on Monday.

Dr. Robert Love, who led the surgery, said the operations were a success and Vo’s limbs were all alive and pink.

“We took down all of his dressings and we’re very happy to report that all limbs are alive and in fact are well vascularised and they have very good blood supply,” Love told reporters on Monday.

Professor Wayne Morrison, head of plastic and hand surgery at Melbourne’s St. Vincent’s Hospital, said he believed the simultaneous reattachment operation was a world first.

“We have had some cases of both legs, or a foot and a leg, taken off but we haven’t had three limbs. To have three all combined I think it must be certainly a first in Australia and I would think a first in the world,” Morrison told reporters.

Despite being kept unconscious since the first round of surgery, Vo was able to move his fingers, said Love.

“The fact that he is moving his fingers, and of course when he wakes up he will move both fingers and toes, is not a surprise,” Love said.

“The question is more the sensory return that he will get in the hand itself and the fine movements he will have in the fingers and the toes, and that will come with time, hopefully,” he said.

“We will assess that over the next 18 months to 2 years.”

All three limbs were shortened to make reattachment possible but Vo would probably still be able to play sport after extensive occupational therapy and rehabilitation, said Love.

“I’m sure that he’ll enjoy a game of basketball in the future,” he said. 

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