Life saving surgery that actually turns your leg around is leaving people amazed
Topics: Health, Cancer, World News, Reddit, Social Media
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/MD Anderson Cancer Center
Topics: Health, Cancer, World News, Reddit, Social Media
People are flooding to social media in awe of a life-saving surgery which sees part of the leg rotated before its reattached.
Like me, you may've swiftly given up biology, physics and chemistry as soon as you hit the age of 16, however, even if you don't have an interest in science, you can still respect and marvel at just how incredible modern medicine can be.
And there's one surgery which not many people have probably heard about, but is pretty mind-blowing when you realise how it all works.
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The surgery is called 'Rotationplasty' and is typically performed on people who have bone cancer near the knee.
Rotationplasty - also known as Van Nes - 'is a surgery to amputate (remove) the middle part of your leg when there is a tumor near your knee,' the Cleveland Clinic explains.
It continues: "Your surgeon rotates the lower section of your leg (shin bone, ankle and foot) 180 degrees. So, your foot points backwards.
"They reattach it to your remaining thigh bone. The ankle serves as a replacement knee joint. You wear a prosthesis (artificial limb) on your foot.
"Generally speaking, a rotationplasty leaves you with greater function than you would have with a standard amputation."
A video exemplifying what happens during the surgery has been shared to Reddit thread r/BeAmazed by u/Past-Directions9145.
The video echoes the ankle mimics the knee's 'bending motion' which is 'very helpful for amputees, particularly with the 'backwards ankle fitting perfectly into a prosthetic' and gives 'more stability'.
And people are flooding to the comments in shock, not having realised there was surgery like this out there, in awe of how it works.
One user u/VVen0m wrote: "This is amazing because it's the most clever thing ever, and also it looks like a goddamn s**tpost but is completely real lmao."
"Now that is so cool !!!!" u/MrRuck1 added.
One user - u/Dirty-D29 - question how someone even 'come[s] up with' the surgery.
U/ViatorA01 chimed: "That's exactly what I think many times when I see such crazy technical surgeries. Where do you get the knowledge from. How tf do you test your theory?"
Well, the first rotationplasty procedure was performed all the way back in 1927 on a 12-year-old patient with tuberculosis by a doctor named Borggreve. However, it wasn't until Dutch orthopedist Cornelis Pieter van Nes came along in 1950 that greater awareness was raised about the life-saving surgery.