Chinese doctors get double-thigh amputee to walk again in world first

After 20 months of recovery, the 51-year-old man is walking indoors with a frame, manages daily tasks and has regained lower leg sensation

Chinese surgeons have enabled a man to walk again after an accident severed both his legs at the thigh, marking a rare success for advanced reconstructive procedures.

After nearly 20 months of intensive post-operative recovery, the patient is reportedly able to walk indoors with a frame and manage most daily tasks unassisted. Crucially, sensation has returned to his lower legs down to his ankles.

The double-thigh replantation, performed at an orthopaedic hospital in eastern China, is a global first, according to the Jiangsu Trauma and Treatment Association – a local hospital network.

In an article published on August 14 on its social media account, the Jiangsu association noted that while single-thigh replantations had succeeded in the past, there were no prior documented cases of a patient undergoing a complete bilateral thigh reattachment and walking again.

“The success of this case demonstrates that China’s microsurgical trauma expertise has reached a world-leading level,” the association wrote.

Details of the case were also highlighted in an academic paper published in the peer-reviewed China Journal of Trauma in July.