A surgical team in China successfully grafted a human patient's ear to their foot in a remarkable medical intervention.
  • ToastedRavioli@midwest.socialEnglish
    19·
    7 hours ago

    For…. Science?

    Edit:

    The damage to her scalp and vascular network was so severe that restoring the ear at the time was impossible, so the procedure was performed to save the patient’s aural orifice so it could be reattached to her head later.

    Okay, but its going to be really hard to find socks in the meantime. Also, dont the hairs that allow you to hear not grow back? I assume the ear will never be useable again. Although I guess the aesthetic appeal is still there

  • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    22·
    8 hours ago

    This case is another example why proper patient care is so important:

    But complications arose five days later, when the ear turned purplish black as its connecting veins struggled to send blood back to the heart, causing the blood to pool. Over the next five days, the team rescued the ear with manual bloodletting, a labor intensive process that required almost five hundred individual interventions.

    Every hospital cutting nursing jobs to a skeleton crew has blood (and ears) on their hands.

    And it’s the same with rehabilitation measures: especially with neurological damage after a stroke or brain hemorrhage starting with therapy ASAP preserves and restores function and abilities that are lost if it takes months to get therapy.

  • Lembot_0006@programming.devEnglish
    76·
    11 hours ago

    Saving you a click:

    The patient suffered a horrific workplace accident involving heavy machinery ,which tore off a large part of her scalp and her ear with it. The damage to her scalp and vascular network was so severe that restoring the ear at the time was impossible, so the procedure was performed to save the patient’s aural orifice so it could be reattached to her head later.

    • jello@programming.devEnglish
      1·
      38 minutes ago

      For those curious as to why the foot:

      They chose the foot because the arteries and veins there are compatible with those found in the ear. The foot’s skin and soft tissue are also similarly thin to the head’s.

    • ByteOnBikes@discuss.onlineEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      They do this with penis injuries too. I’m surprised people are surprised?

      Or maybe I know too much about dick science.

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22·
        9 hours ago

        Maybe they’ll be able to graft the ear back on her head before she’d be healed enough to walk out of the hospital anyway.

        • Manjushri@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          4 hours ago

          That’s the whole reason they attached it to her foot.

          The damage to her scalp and vascular network was so severe that restoring the ear at the time was impossible, so the procedure was performed to save the patient’s aural orifice so it could be reattached to her head later.

          • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            3 hours ago

            That’s the whole reason they attached it somewhere, but your quote doesn’t address my speculation about why they picked her foot in particular. I was making a guess about the relative timing of her being healed enough to release vs. being healed enough to have the graft moved back to where it belongs.