Replantation

Replantation or reattachment has been defined by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand as "the surgical reattachment of a body part, most commonly a finger, hand or arm, that has been completely cut from a person's body."[1]

Replantation

According to the ICD-10-PCS, in the Medical and Surgical Section 0, root operation M, reattachment is the putting back in or on all or a portion of a separated body part to its normal location, or other suitable location. Vascular circulation and nervous pathways may or may not be reestablished. Examples would be reattachment of a partially or fully amputated hand, or reattachment of a kidney that had suffered an avulsion-type injury.

Replantation of amputated parts has been performed on fingers, hands, forearms, arms, toes, feet, legs, ears, avulsed scalp injuries, a face, lips, penis and a tongue. It can be performed on almost any body part of children.[2]

Medical Uses

Replantation is performed in response to traumatic amputation. Sharp, guillotine-like injuries with relatively uninjured distal extremities have the best post-replantation prognosis. Severe crush injuries, multilevel injuries, avulsion injuries, and in some cases jagged tearing of tissue, can preclude replantation and salvage, requiring revision amputation of the stump.[3]

Technique

Replantation requires microsurgery and must be performed within several hours of the part's amputation, at a center with specialized equipment, surgeons and supporting staff. To improve the chances of a successful replantation, it is necessary to preserve the amputate as soon as possible in a cool (close to freezing, but not at or below freezing) and sterile or clean environment.[3] Parts should be wrapped with moistened gauze and placed inside a clean or sterile bag floating in ice water. Dry ice should not be used as it can result in freezing of the tissue. There are so called sterile "Amputate-Bags" available which help to perform a dry, cool and sterile preservation. Parts without major muscles such as fingers can be preserved for as long as 94 hours (typically 10–12 hours), while major muscle containing parts such as arms need to be re-attached and revascularized within 6–8 hours to have a viable limb.[4]

It is also important to collect and to preserve those amputates which do not look "replantable." A microsurgeon needs all available parts of human tissue to cover the wound at the stump and thus to prevent further shortening of the stump. In some cases (e.g. forearm) the task of an important joint (e.g. elbow) can be conserved for improved prosthetic success.

The repair of the nerves and vessels (artery and vein) of the amputated part is essential for survival and function of the replanted part of the body. Using an operating microscope for replantatation is termed microvascular replantation. However, vessels and nerves of large amputated parts (e.g. arm and forearm) may be reconnected using loupe or no magnification.

In replantation surgery following macro-amputation (e.g. arm or leg amputation) maximal length of the replanted extremity can be preserved by vascular grafts for blood supply and pedicled or free soft tissue flaps for defect coverage.[5]

Recovery

Outcome of major limb replantations can be predicted by the potassium level of the blood which flows out of the replanted part after revascularization as a high level of potassium can be a marker of muscle and tissue death.

History

The first replantation to be performed in the world involved repair of the brachial artery and was done by a team of chief residents led by Ronald Malt at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, United States in 1962. The arm of a 12-year-old child severed at the level of the proximal humerus was reattached.

The first report of a replantation using "modest magnification and keen vision" was reported by a team led by Zhong-Wei Chen of the Sixth People's Hospital in Shanghai in 1963 writing in the Chinese Medical Journal. A machinist's hand was reattached at the level of the distal forearm. In this case vascular couplers were used for the vessels as the Chinese did not have good micro sutures available at that time. As there was little communication between China and the Western World in those years, Ronald Malt and Charles McKhann published in JAMA in 1964 their first two replantations without referencing the earlier published article from China.

First revascularization of a partially amputated finger: Kleinert (1963) First digital replantation: Komatsu & Tamai, Japan (1965)

See also

References

  1. http://www.assh.org/Public/HandConditions/Pages/Replantation.aspx
  2. Current diagnosis & treatment in orthopedics. Skinner, Harry B., McMahon, Patrick J. (Physician) (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. 2014. ISBN 0071590757. OCLC 820106991.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Current diagnosis & treatment emergency medicine. Stone, C. Keith., Humphries, Roger L. (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. 2011. ISBN 0071701079. OCLC 711520941.CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. Win, Thet Su; Henderson, James (2014-02-10). "Management of traumatic amputations of the upper limb". BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 348: g255. doi:10.1136/bmj.g255. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 24516069.
  5. Märdian S, Krapohl BD, Roffeis J, Disch AC, Schaser KD, Schwabe P. Complete major amputation of the upper extremity: Early results and initial treatment algorithm. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2015 Mar;78(3):586-93.
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