A Chinese hospital has claimed that its doctors performed the world’s first double thigh replantation, which made it possible for a factory worker who lost both his legs to start walking again. According to Chinese media reports, the 51-year-old factory worker, identified by the last name Jiang, underwent a massive accident on December 2, 2024, when industrial machinery severed both his thighs at a plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.Jiang was taken to Suzhou Ruihua Orthopaedic Hospital, where a team of over 20 medical professionals worked on the case. “Using microsurgical techniques, they reconstructed and reconnected the blood vessels, nerves, bones and muscles to successfully replant both limbs, according to the trauma association,” the hospital said.Multiple procedures were performed on the factory worker and then he underwent nearly 20 months of intensive post-operative recovery. Now the man is able to walk indoors with a frame and can do most of his daily tasks without help, the hospital said.In an article published on August 14 on its social media account, the Jiangsu Trauma and Treatment Association, a local hospital network, claimed that while single-thigh replantations had succeeded in the past, there were no prior documented cases of a patient undergoing a complete bilateral thigh reattachment and walking again.“The success of this case demonstrates that China’s microsurgical trauma expertise has reached a world-leading level,” the association wrote.Li Changsong, head of the hospital’s trauma orthopaedics unit, told local news outlet Yangtze Evening Post that three months after the accident, Jiang was able to raise his legs. Once sensation in his lower limbs had returned to the middle of his calves, he was discharged to begin rehabilitation. They said it’s still too early to say when he might be able to walk without the help of the walking frame.The recovery process saw some challenges as Jiang developed localized skin necrosis after the operation and underwent flap reconstruction surgeries. He later required bone grafting and reinforced internal fixation of both femurs after severe open comminuted fractures resulted in femoral nonunion.Li said the case was considered a world first primarily because both legs were completely severed at thigh level simultaneously, an extremely rare injury. The hospital had previously accumulated extensive experience in replanting single limbs and lower legs, while its expertise in fracture fixation, vascular anastomosis and nerve repair provided an important technical foundation for the operation.
