Unusual transplant gives new right thumb to girl

- By Erin Digitale

thumb

Hand and plastic surgeon James Chang, MD, recently corrected a rare and debilitating birth defect when he operated on a little girl born without thumbs.

Chang, a professor of surgery, transplanted the second toe from her left foot to the child's right hand. The 7-year-old patient, Andrea Guzman, had the bones, muscles, tendons and nerves normally present at the base of the thumbs, which made the unusual surgery possible. It was tricky to hook up the blood vessels and nerves that supply her transplant, but well worthwhile.

'The thumb is 40 percent of the function of the hand,' Chang said. 'So we're using a spare part she had in her body to give that function back.' The transplant was performed in late November and the patient is now starting physical therapy. 'She's a very remarkable girl,' said Chang.

Chang's research has shown that the transplanted digit will grow with the child, and she'll be able to use it just like any thumb, to hold a pencil, play the piano or feel whether a surface is hot or cold, wet or dry. 'It's hers for life,' he said.

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2023 ISSUE 3

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