UMC Surgions Successfully Reattach Woman's Arm

For the first time at UMC, surgeons successfully reattached a severed arm. The procedure was performed Sept. 28 on a 50-year-old Tucson woman whose left arm was severed below the shoulder when she was struck by a car while jogging.

The rare limb replantation procedure took about eight hours. The UMC surgical team included Christopher P. Demas, M.D., chief, Section of Plastic Surgery; Joseph L. Mills, M.D., chief, Section of Vascular Surgery; and John T. Ruth, M.D., acting chief, Section of Orthopedics.

"The technology to perform replantation has been available only for about 36 years, and this type of surgery was first performed in Boston in 1962," Dr. Ruth said. "Full-arm replants are rare because usually there are other crushing injuries to the arm that reduce the potential for functional recovery." The patient's injury was confined to the humerus (the upper arm bone, between the shoulder and elbow joints).

The patient's outlook for recovery is good, Dr. Ruth said. Nerve regeneration following repair is a gradual process, and significant signs of nerve regeneration-such as the ability to use the hand-will not be evident for six to eight months. The patient, who was discharged from UMC on Oct. 6, will receive physical therapy during the next several months.

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