Medical history

This week in 1962, surgeons successfully reattached a 12-year-old boy’s severed arm using microvascular repair of blood vessels. The arm had been severed 3 inches below the shoulder by the wheels of a train. Good functional recovery of nerves is generally better in children than in adults. After additional operations, the boy regained some useful functioning of the limb. Though there was a little “clawing” of the fingers, his tactile recovery was good enough to identify coins and use his fingers in handling objects. He grew up to be employed as a garage mechanic.