Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tetraplegia Hand Surgery at Hessisch Lichtenau Clinic, Germany

Recently, senior consultant Dr. Marion Saur (picture to left) at Orthopädischee Klinik, Hessisch Lichtenau, Germany invited Professor Jan Fridén to discuss initiating a program to assess and restore upper limb motor function in spinal cord injured patients. There is a great need for this kind of service and the Hessisch Lichtenau clinic surely has a big number of patients with tetraplegia requesting restoration of hand function, a dedicated team of colleagues and therapists and excellent infrastructure to pursue this kind of treatment. At this occasion, two patients had grip reconstructions. In addition, ten other persons with tetraplegia were assessed for potential surgical reconstructions. They received information about expected outcome, postop training requirements and how to prepare mentally and physically prior to surgery. A future collaboration within the European tetraplegia hand surgery network is established.