Zhong Wei Chen, Chinese microsurgeon and orthopedic surgeon (Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 01 October 1929 –Shanghai 23 March 2004)
ACHIEVEMENTS
Authored 125 papers and 11 books
Internationally known as father of replantation and founder of the replantation of digits
Performed the world’s first reported hand replant (1963)
With Yun-Qing Qian performed world’s first successful replantation of amputated limb (a distal forearm) in 1963
First to treat tibial pseudo-arthrosis with a vascularised fibula flap (1977)
One of the first to recreate a missing thumb with a second toe (1980)
Developed pedicled iliac crest transfer for treating femoral ahead aseptic necrosis in children (1982)
Invented microanastomosis for vessels less than 1 mm diameter
Developed microsurgical procedures such as techniques for reattaching amputated fingers and thumbs, preserving severed extremities, reconstructing muscles and repairing nerves and blood vessels
Proposed detection of the nerve signals by clinically implanting microelectrodes into the fascicule of 3 main nerves (median, radial and ulnar nerves) in the man’s upper extremity
Developed first “electronic hand controlled by reconstructed digit”
HONORS
Century Golden Medal, International Reconstructive Microsurgery, Annual Meeting
Millenium Award, International Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery (1999)
Honored as the “father of replantation” at International Hand Surgery Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1978