Doctors fix 5-year-old German's paralysed arm
A 5-year-old German boy with cerebral palsy who came to Shanghai for surgery on his paralysed left arm is recovering well, Shanghai’s Huashan Hospital said on Thursday.
Felix was unable to stretch out his arm and couldn't hold anything in his left hand.
After trying various remedies in Germany the family turned to Shanghai for help.
Sandra Ringmann, the boy's mother, had come across an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2017 by specialists from Huashan Hospital.
Doctors at Huashan had developed an innovative arm surgery to help stroke patients with limb paralysis and children suffering from cerebral palsy by changing the part of the brain that controls movement in the arm.
Limb functions are controlled by opposite brain hemispheres. The pioneering surgery connects the nerves of a paralyzed arm to the healthy brain hemisphere on the same side of the body to help regain function.
Ringmann contacted Dr Xu Wendong, one of the surgery innovators, and afterward evaluation was told the boy was eligible for the surgery.
Dr Xu Wendong (fourth from left) from Huashan Hospital explains the surgery to Felix's mother (third from right).
They arrived at Huashan in November and the boy had surgery on November 14.
Felix showed very promising results, doctors said, as he was able to stretch out his arm on the fourth day after the surgery and his stiff wrist and fingers could move.
The boy's mother expresses her joy at Felix's progress after the surgery.
Doctors have designed a rehabilitation plan for the boy and he will be able to hold things in his left hand, do fine movements like buttoning up his shirt and buckling his shoes, doctors said.
Huashan Hospital has launched training courses on the surgery at home and abroad. So far, doctors from countries including the US, UK, France, South Korea and Brazil have come to Huashan to study the skills involved. Doctors from South Korea have carried out about 100 such surgeries in Seoul.
