[Transpalmar transplantation of a severed hand to the opposite side: a case report]

A man of 20 got both his upper limbs badly injured by an accident on May 28, 1989. Crush of all the 4 fingers of right hand, traumatic amputation through the left arm with severe damage of soft tissue and burst fracture of bones around left elbow. And so, the chance of providing him a useful hand could only be transpalmar transplantation of the undamaged left hand to the opposite side. This was done urgently to reconstruct a new hand, a hand with its fingers in a reversed order. The wound healed up nicely, the transplanted fore-hand was well taken and the new hand functions satisfactorily, though the natural little finger of left hand takes the place of and works as index one, and the original ring finger of left hand seats the position in and acts as long one; and so on. The details of operative procedure are described and the importance of rehabilitation training is particularly emphasized.