'Probably the most complex': Surgeons save man's hand by attaching it to his groin

Anthony Lelliott, 46, almost completely severed his left hand in two places while cutting floorboards with the power tool. Photo / St George's Hospital

WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES

A man who nearly lost his hand in an accident with an electric saw has had it saved thanks to doctors' unusual surgery method - attaching his hand to his groin.

UK man Anthony Lelliott underwent 17 hours of surgery after the horrific injury which happened when he was chopping floorboards with a chop saw.

The 47-year-old's hand was still attached but only by skin and a small bit of bone.

Consultant plastic surgeon Roger Adlard performed the initial 13-hour operation with his colleague Farida Ali.

In the first operation the surgical team worked through the night to establish a good blood and nerve supply to as many of the fingers as possible.

After fixing the broken bones, they took veins from Lelliott's foot and nerves from his forearm to use in the repair to his hand.

The surgeons decided to sacrifice the man's middle finger in a bid to save his hand.

Anthony Lelliott, 46, almost completely severed his left hand in two places while cutting floorboards with the power tool. Photo / St George's Hospital

But after the initial success, they still needed to find a place on his body to attach his hand to in a bid to get the skin to grow back.

Surgeons came up with the unusual idea of attaching his hand to his groin, and it appears to have had great success.

Doctors cut a flap of skin in his groin and sewed his hand to it, leaving it there for two weeks.

They cut it free once the skin from his groin had grown new roots to where it had transferred to Lelliott's hand.

Photo / St George's Hospital

Adlard said: "There are many surgeons who, once they'd seen that level of injury, would think it was unsalvageable. [Mr Lelliott] had taken out a swathe of tissue. The saw he used had curved teeth on it. It doesn't just cut a nice straight line.

"Every microsurgical repair takes a lot of concentration, so it was useful to be able to alternate between two surgeons.

"We did the same thing for his nerve grafts harvested from his forearm and I repaired any tendons that I could.

"We made the decision that to save the rest of his hand, we'd sacrifice his middle finger and effectively fillet it to help reconstruct the skin and bone which was missing from his palm."

Following the successful surgery, Lelliott has regained some movement in his hand and is having regular physiotherapy.

He hopes to one day return to work.

Adlard said: "Tony is very realistic about things. It's never going to be a normal hand for him. We hope that sensation will return to some degree. He already has pinch grip, which is really good, so he can hold a pen between his thumb and index finger.

"The final function that we are hoping to restore, which will require more surgery, is power grip so he can hold a hammer in his hand or a pint of beer."

Lelliott said: "The care I've received has been fantastic and I've got so much gratitude for everyone. Words can't describe it because I was expecting to wake up without a hand. It's just trying to get it to work now. It's unbelievable, really, I'm so grateful."