Watch gruesome operation as surgeons attach a man's hand to his STOMACH to save it

Surgeons in Houston attached a man's hand to his stomach for a new skin graft and new blood supply. The only way to save one man's hand was to surgically insert it under a flap in his stomach.

As 87-year-old Frank Reyes was changing a tire, a trailer fell on his hand. Although nothing was broken, gave him painful third-degree burns.

He didn't just need a skin graft, but also a new blood supply to his hand - something surgeons were able to accomplish by attaching it to his abdomen. "Those two raw surface areas actually stick and over the course of about three weeks the blood vessels actually connect, allowing us to divide the remaining skin on his abdomen and transferring onto his hand," Dr. Anthony Echo told Houston radio station KPRC 2.

According to local website, the procedure has been carried out before - although it remains a rare option.

The hand is sewn under a flap on the abdomen in order to grow a new blood supply."So far I can move it, my new hand, my thumb and the little one," Mr Reyes said.

"Next Tuesday they're going to take [the splint] off and we'll know from there what they can do for me."

According to Dr. Echo, from the Houston Methodist Hospital, it will take months of therapy before Mr. Reyes will be able to use his hand again