KNH performs rare nerve surgery on two amputees

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has performed two specialised nerve-reconstruction procedures on amputees, introducing a technique that could help patients regain sensory feedback through appropriately fitted prosthetic limbs.

The operations, conducted on October 29 and 30, 2026, involved a four-year-old boy and a 43-year-old man.

Both procedures used Targeted Sensory Reinnervation (TSR), a microsurgical technique that reconnects nerves previously serving an amputated limb to areas of surviving skin.

The hospital described the operations as significant milestones in its reconstructive surgery programme.

How targeted sensory reinnervation works

When a limb is amputated, some of the nerves that previously carried sensory information from that limb remain in the residual limb.

Targeted sensory reinnervation redirects selected nerves to new skin areas, allowing them to grow into the surrounding tissue.

After healing and rehabilitation, touching the reinnervated skin can produce a sensation that the brain interprets as coming from the missing part of the body.

This creates the possibility of giving an amputee sensory feedback when using a suitably integrated prosthetic limb.

Instead of relying entirely on sight to understand contact or pressure, the patient may begin to experience touch through the new sensory pathway.

The procedure does not regrow an amputated limb or automatically restore movement.

Its main objective is to establish a route for sensory information, with the eventual benefit depending on nerve recovery, rehabilitation and the prosthetic technology available.

TSR has also been studied as a way of addressing painful neuromas and some forms of phantom-limb pain, although individual results vary.

The four-year-old patient

The youngest patient was Jeremy, a four-year-old boy from Kirinyaga who lost his left hand in a chaff-cutter accident.

An earlier attempt to reattach the hand was unsuccessful, leaving the child with an amputation.

He subsequently underwent the specialised nerve procedure at KNH on October 29.

The operation lasted approximately five and a half hours and was performed by an international reconstructive surgery team led by Italian plastic and reconstructive surgeon Professor Alexander Gardetto, working alongside KNH specialists.

The hospital described Jeremy as the youngest known recipient of the technique globally. That distinction is based on the hospital's announcement.

A second operation on an adult amputee

The second patient, 43-year-old Charles Mogire from Ngong, sustained severe electrical injuries in November 2025, resulting in the loss of both upper limbs.

After emergency treatment, skin grafting and follow-up care, he underwent a targeted sensory reinnervation procedure on October 30.

The operation lasted approximately five hours.

KNH said the operation involved a specialised transhumeral application of the technique and described it as the third such procedure performed globally.

Both patients were reported to have been discharged and were recovering at home after the operations.

The role of specialist training

The procedures were also part of a knowledge-transfer programme involving Professor Gardetto and Kenyan medical teams.

The collaboration allows local specialists to develop experience in complex reconstructive procedures that require microsurgery and coordinated rehabilitation.

KNH reported that the two operations were covered through the Social Health Authority (SHA), with no out-of-pocket surgical costs for the patients.

The hospital's work reflects a broader shift in prosthetic rehabilitation:

Helping amputees recover not only function through assistive devices, but also sensory information that can improve how they interact with those devices.

The results for both patients will depend on their recovery and rehabilitation, but the operations mark a significant addition to the specialist reconstructive services available at a Kenyan public hospital.