Groundbreaking op restores hand use to young motorcyclist

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 12 - A groundbreaking surgery performed at the CTO (Orthopaedic Trauma Centre) hospital of the City of Health in Turin has enabled a 22-year-old motorcyclist to recover the use of one hand, lost in an accident six months ago.
    The young student had suffered a lesion of the brachial plexus, the reticular complex of spinal nerves that provides the motor and sensory innervation of part of the chest, shoulder, arm and also the hand.
    By using a nerve root, i.e. a bundle of nerve fibres from the spinal cord, of the healthy arm plexus, the connection of the opposite hand was restored.
    photo: a file photo of a motorcyclist in Rome (ANSA).