September 10, 1999

When Shirley Stone of Sanford, Maine arrived at the MGH Aug. 30, she had no idea whether her hand – which had been completely severed – could be saved. But after a 14-hour operation, surgeons at the MGH successfully reattached Stone's hand, reconnecting two arteries, four veins, 18 tendons, four major nerves and various bones. What's even more amazing is that after this complex operation, Stone has movement in her hand, and it is likely to regain full function.

Stone was helping her husband cut strips of wood for their fence-building business when her hand slipped into the path of the power saw she was using. "I cut my hand," she calmly told her husband, Herb. When he realized the severity of the accident, he immediately grabbed her arm to apply pressure and stop the bleeding. Then he walked his wife into their home office to call 911. "There was no time to think. Fortunately, I thought to put her hand on ice," he said.

She was rushed to a hospital in Portland and was then flown by helicopter to the MGH. Bradon Wilhelmi, MD, a plastic surgeon, led the surgical team including plastic surgery residents Ron Silverman, MD, and Parham Ganchi, MD, and general surgery resident Andrew Cameron, MD. They spent the night and early morning reattaching her hand.

    at left, Wilhelmi and Stone

"This kind of injury is very rare," said Wilhelmi."We haven't seen a case like this in years."

The first successful reattachment of a human limb was done at the MGH in 1962. Not all hand amputations can be replanted, according to Wilhelmi. The injury needs to be a very clean, sharp cut with minimal trauma to the adjacent tissue edges.

"When Ms. Stone arrived, she was fully conscious, and I told her point-blank that there were no guarantees that her hand could be saved or achieve normal function," said Wilhelmi. "Since the patient's injury occurred four hours before her arrival at the MGH, we needed to quickly re-establish the blood flow to the hand for this to be successful. We did this by reconnecting the two main arteries and four veins to the hand with the aid of a surgical microscope. We then reattached the tendons and motor and sensory nerves, which should give her the best chance for useful function of the hand," he said.

On Friday, Stone was not only in high spirits and getting ready to be discharged the next day, she was wiggling her fingers. "I feel good, and I am thankful to everyone at the MGH," said Stone. When asked if she would be returning to help her husband and sons build fences, she replied: "No way. From now on, I am sticking to answering the phones."