The skilled surgeons with Norton Louisville Arm & Hand are available to children and teens after trauma or an injury. Our surgeons have specialized training in the unique needs of caring for children’s growing arms, wrists and hands.

Expert Care Close to Home

Our arm and hand surgeons are among the most skilled in the nation. Norton Louisville Arm & Hand’s Amit Gupta, M.D., authored the authoritative guide to treating children’s hands: “The Growing Hand: Diagnosis and Management of the Upper Extremity in Children.”  After completing a hand surgery fellowship, Charity Burke, M.D, completed a second fellowship dedicated to children’s hand and arm issues. All of our hand surgeons are fellowship trained and either members or eligible members of the American Society of Surgery of the Hand.

Finger, Hand or Arm Replantation and Amputation Surgery

Replantation is the surgical reattachment of a finger, hand or arm that has been completely detached from the body. Re-attachment surgery gives the person as much use of the injured body part as possible.

Not all children who lose a finger, hand or arm are candidates for replantation. Sometimes replantation surgery is not possible because the detached limb is too damaged. If replantation surgery is not an option, amputation surgery may be needed. During amputation surgery, the surgeon cleans, smooths and covers the cut end of the body part. This can help speed the healing process.

How Does Replantation Surgery Work?

Replantation surgery includes three steps. During replantation, the surgeon will:

• Carefully remove damaged tissue.
• Shorten the bone ends and rejoin them with pins, wires, or plates and screws. This holds the body part in place to allow the surgeon to restore the tissues.
• Repair the muscles, tendons, arteries, nerves and veins of the affected limb. Grafts or artificial spacers of bone, skin, tendons and blood vessels may be needed. These may come from the patient’s body or a tissue bank.

The Norton Children’s Difference

The care your child needs is close to home at Norton Children’s. With a 125-year presence in Louisville, Norton Children’s is a leader in pediatric care across Kentucky and Southern Indiana, providing an expanded footprint that includes:

• Norton Children’s Hospital – The region’s only full-service, free-standing pediatric hospital and Louisville’s only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. Norton Children’s Hospital also has one of the largest Level IV (highest level) neonatal intensive care units in the country.
• Numerous regional outpatient centers and extensive pediatrician and pediatric specialist offices throughout the area.
• Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital – The only women’s hospital in Louisville, providing care dedicated to the needs of women and children.
• Norton Children’s Medical Center – A unique regional outpatient facility designed “Just for Kids,” bringing pediatric care to northeastern Jefferson County and the surrounding area.

Norton Children’s Offers Specialized Programs and services, Including:

• Norton Children’s Cancer Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, and the Addison Jo Blair Cancer Care Center, which is one of the oldest oncology programs continuously accredited by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.
• Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, a pioneer in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery. Norton Children’s heart surgeons performed Kentucky’s first heart transplant in a newborn in 1986, making the hospital the second site in the United States for infant transplants. Norton Children’s Hospital is home to the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
• Pediatric neurology and neurosurgery, including a Level 4 epilepsy center
• Orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation
• The Wendy Novak Diabetes Center