A double amputee schoolboy who lost his fingers in an electric shock will be able to hold a pen for the first time – after doctors transplanted his toes on to his hands.
Virendra Singh, 10, from Delhi, has now been left without two of his toes after innovative surgeons crafted him a new thumb and forefinger on his right hand.
Medics behind the procedure, which was dubbed ‘very complex’, are adamant that he will have no problem walking – despite losing his digits.
Virendra suffered an electric shock when he put his hands in a bucket full of water with an electric rod in it in three years ago, local reports state.
Virendra Singh, ten, from Delhi, has been left without two of his toes after innovative surgeons created him a new thumb and forefinger
Medics behind the procedure, which was dubbed ‘very complex’, are adamant that he will have no problem walking – despite losing his digits (pictured: his new hand)
Surgeons performed a ‘toe-to-hand transfer’ – removing two toes and the connected blood vessels, tendons and nerves from his left foot to his right hand.
The mammoth surgery took ten hours in total, but Virendra is looking forward to using his hands after intense physiotherapy.
Dr Rakesh Kain, who led the surgery at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, said: ‘It was a very complex surgery and failure would have resulted in much trauma to the patient.
Virendra suffered an electric shock when he put his hands in a bucket full of water with an electric rod in it in three years ago, local reports state (pictured: his other hand)
Both his hands were so severely burned that he got gangrene. Surgeons amputated his left hand from the wrist and the fingers from his right hand (before the operation)
‘This child will now easily be able to perform routine tasks.’
Dr Amita, an anesthetist involved in the procedure whose first name is unknown, added: ‘It was a very complex operation that required lots of monitoring.’
The grueling procedure involves removing the toes, along with their blood vessels, nerves and tendons.
Surgeons then attach the toes and their accessories to the hand bone, which is then left to heal for around two months.
But the operation becomes complex when the medics have to join together the blood vessels and nerves, so that the patient is able to use their new fingers.
It follows the spectacular case of an Australian man whose thumb was severed in a cattle herding accident who underwent a similar procedure.
Zac Mitchell, 20, had a big toe surgically removed and transplanted onto his hand to replace the lost digit.
He was working on a remote cattle station in Western Australia state in April when his hand was kicked by a bull and thrust against a fence, slicing off his right thumb.
While a British father-of-one shot to fame in 2011 after he showed off his unusual new thumb after he lost his original in a carpentry accident.
James Byrne, 29, had his big toe grafted on to his hand after he severed his left thumb while sawing through a piece of wood the previous December.
They performed a ‘toe-to-hand transfer’ – removing two toes and the connected blood vessels, tendons and nerves from his left foot to his right hand
The mammoth surgery took ten hours in total, but Virendra is looking forward to using his hands after intense physiotherapy (before the operation)