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After a man severed his hand with a production machine, surgeons saved the limb by temporarily attaching it to his belly.

Carlos Mariotti, of Orleans, Brazil, lost his left hand while working with a production machine, Metro.co.uk reported. Surgeons placed his hand, which had two fingers missing, in his abdomen by securing it with a piece of skin.

Surgeon Boris Brandao said surgeons left the hand inside Mariotti’s abdomen for six weeks. Mariotti is healing at Santa Otília Hospital, Metro.co.uk reported.

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“This was a very large and delicate injury, and the only place we could fit the whole hand was in the abdomen,” Brandao told the news website. “Without this procedure, there would be a high risk of infection, and the tissue and tendons would rot away.”

Mariotti said he didn’t know what to expect from the procedure.
“When I woke up from the operation, I didn’t know whether it was still there,” Mariotti told the news website. “I couldn’t believe it when they said they had tucked my hand inside me.”