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Dannie Peng

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.

The life of 51-year-old factory worker Jiang changed forever on December 2, 2024, when industrial machinery completely severed both his thighs at a plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
He was rushed to Suzhou Ruihua Orthopaedic Hospital, which specialises in hand surgery, orthopaedic trauma and rehabilitation medicine.
A multidisciplinary team of more than 20 medical professionals worked through the night for nearly eight hours. Using microsurgical techniques, they reconstructed and reconnected the blood vessels, nerves, bones and muscles to successfully replant both limbs, according to the trauma association.
The initial operation, however, was only the beginning. Over the following weeks, severe post-operative complications forced surgeons to perform multiple follow-up procedures.
Li Changsong, head of the hospital’s trauma orthopaedics unit, told local news outlet Yangtze Evening Post that Jiang subsequently developed localised skin necrosis, requiring flap surgery to repair the damaged tissue.
Severe open comminuted fractures later prevented Jiang’s thigh bones, or femurs, from fusing correctly – a complication known as a non-union that required further surgical intervention to heal.
Jiang needed bone grafts and reinforcement surgery to secure both thigh bones, with surgeons using internal metal plates and screws.

Li noted that by March last year, just three months after his catastrophic accident, Jiang was able to raise his legs freely while lying down. Once sensation in his lower limbs had returned to the middle of his calves, he was discharged to begin rehabilitation.
Jiang is now able to walk indoors with the aid of a frame and manages most of his personal tasks on his own, according to Li.
However, it is too early to say when he might be able to entirely dispense with the walking frame.
The breakthrough follows another surgical first in December, when Chinese doctors temporarily grafted a woman’s severed ear to her foot to keep the tissue alive before reattaching it.
The initial step of grafting the ear onto the foot took 10 hours. According to the medical team in Shandong province, a major challenge was the ear’s exceptionally fine, microscopic blood vessels that demanded extreme precision and microsurgical skill to connect successfully.


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Science

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

The double-thigh replantation is a global first, according to the Jiangsu Trauma and Treatment Association – a local hospital network. Photo: Shutterstock

The patient, surnamed Jiang, is now able to walk indoors with a frame and manages most of his personal tasks on his own. Photo: QQ.com/Suzhou Ruihua Orthopaedic Hospital

Just three months after the first surgeries, Jiang was able to raise his legs freely while lying down. Photo: QQ.com/Suzhou Ruihua Orthopaedic Hospital

How an amputee Chinese scientist is fortifying the country’s military software

Wang Ji is a computer science researcher at the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, Hunan province. Photo: Xinhua

Wang specialises in technology that relies on mathematical logic to verify the correctness of code at the fundamental compiler level. Photo: CCTV

In 2025, the software technology developed by Wang (centre) won the first prize of the Military Science and Technology Progress Award and has been applied to various important equipment. Photo: CCTV

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To create a “smart” probiotic that manages diabetes, Chinese scientists implanted a protein that acts like a glucose detector and the gene that encodes GLP-1 into bacteria. Photo: Handout

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News

China

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


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

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}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

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