Ripped ear reimplant

The Clinical Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

One patient had his ear replanted, because his Rotweiller ripped it off

Article published in the "Adevarul " newspaper, nr. 4372 - 23 July 2004

The surgeons from Iasi have realized, in premiere, a microsurgical replantation of an ear. The patient is a man from Iasi,that played with his rottweiller, a three year old dog. Out of a sudden, the animal jumped and ripped his left ear off. This is what the victim tells us : "I never had problems with the dog until now and I can't explain his behaviour. I was just playing with him and he bit my ear off and ran away with it in his mouth on the alley. Though I was filled with pain, I tried to call him back. Amazingly, the dog came back and left my ear on the alley next to the house".

The man thought quite good and put his ear into a plastic bag and he urgently went to the Hospital of Clinical Urgency from Iasi. Here, a team of plastic surgeons, led by professor Teodor Stamate, worked almost four hours with the microscope to replant his ear. 'It is the first time when we achieved a microsurgical replantation of the auricular pinna. I knew that interventions like these can be made, and I tried, though such an operation is very difficult. It must be done meticulously, because the blood vessels from that level are thinner than the ones from the fingers.' explained doctor Teodor Stamate chief of The Clinical Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery from Iasi, which until now has replanted only fingers and mutilated hands on over 500 patients. Until present, the professor told that through plastic microsurgical operations twelve cases of replantation of the auricular pinna have been done all over the world. The patient's health situation from Iasi is good and the doctors have reasons to hope that he will heal and no complication will appear"

Constantin Coroiu