Boy, 4, regains use of hand thanks to toe transplant

(ANSA) - TURIN, JAN 26 - A four-year-old Italian boy has regained the use of a hand that was irreparably damaged in a car accident thanks to the transplant of a toe.
    The toe has replaced the finger that was lost in the crash.
    The pioneering surgery was led by Bruno Battiston at Turin's Regina Margherita Hospital.
    The op used innovative robot technology.
    Doctors said the new hand will not only function fully but will also grow as the boy gets older.
    "It is a cutting edge operation," said local 'Health City' Director Giovanni La Valle, "which our professionals managed to carry out by using tools never before used".
    Battistons' team was assisted by reconstructive microsurgery chief Davide Ciclamini and the head of peripheral nerve surgery, Paolo Titolo.
    The team transplanted bones, tendons and soft tissues from a toe to the finger using a very high power robot-guided microscope called Robotic Scope.
    The scope transfers images from the operating field to a viewer used by the surgeon, who can therefore work with "greater ergonomics" and protected for COVID, hospital sources said.
    Traditional microscopes do not allow the use of such tiny anti-COVID shields, they said. (ANSA).