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When a body part is severed from the body, how long do surgeons have to sew it back on if they can?

Im watching the Ringer and on here he has a couple of weeks to reattach the fingers (i know its just a movie, thats why im curious as to what the real time limit is)?

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Answer #1

im not sure but i think if the body part is put on nice and chilled i think its like something like 6 hours. im not sure. i can’t remember where i heard that. but its not a huge amount of time where the surgeons could reattach the limb

Answer #2

I have once seen someone who lost his ear and his friend put his “cur part” in a box with ice. The doctor was succesful in putting the part back after 24 hours.

Answer #3

It depends on the nature of the trauma, in crushing amputations there is usually so much micro-vascular damage that there is no hope. I do remember one case that I assisted on as an Anesthesia Tech (spent 36 hours in the OR on that case) where a young boy had a successful re-implantation of his arm after almost 20 hours after the ‘clean’ severance at the mid-bicep level. In reality (with the benefit of hindsight) it comes down to PURE luck- the time of arrival at an ER where the personnel is available to get the whole (very complicated) process in motion… available OR time, no conflicting ER cases, good staff (and Resident) surgeons available, a REAL desire by everyone implicated to do their best- OOOOSH, just so many dynamics…

Answer #4

I love that movie!! I always thought it was a matter of hours but according to the other answers fingers could possibly last that long.

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