Doctors Reattach 12-Year-Old Boy's Head After It Was ‘Almost Completely Disconnected’ in Bike Accident

Jerusalem boy recovering from “complicated” surgery after “extremely rare” injury, doctors reported

A 12-year-old boy from Jerusalem, Israel is recovering after surgeons reattached his head following a bike accident that left him internally decapitated.

Suleiman Hassan’s “routine bike ride almost ended in disaster” when he “was forcefully run over by a wild driver," said the hospital in Jerusalem where the surgery took place — Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem — in a statement on their website.

“The injury left him with a fracture in the head and neck joint and tears in all his supporting ligaments,” they continued, adding that Hassan “was turned to Hadassa Ein Kerem by helicopter and was immediately admitted for a long and complex emergency surgery.”

“Due to the serious injury the head almost completely disconnected from the base of the neck," said Dr. Ohad Einav, a specialist orthopedist who performed the surgery on Hassan, in the statement.

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Dr. Ziv Asa — another surgeon involved in the operation — said that there is typically a "50% chance of survival" for a case like Hassan’s. "Despite the serious injury — the surgery went very successfully, and Suliman was released to his home with a neck fixed and under close supervision of the hospital staff," the statement continued.

On Instagram, the hospital shared an image of Hassan with Einav and Asa following what they described in the post's caption as an "extremely rare and complex operation," where Hadassah Medical Center surgeons "reattached a 12-year-old boy’s head to his neck after a serious accident in which he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle."

The caption on the July 6 post continued, "Suleiman Hassan, from the Jordan Valley, was airlifted to Hadassah’s trauma unit in Ein Kerem, where it was determined that the ligaments holding the posterior base of his skull were severed from the top vertebrae of his spine. The condition, bilateral atlanto occipital joint dislocation, is commonly known as internal or orthopedic decapitation. The injury is very rare in adults, and even more so in children."

Atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD), is also known as orthopedic decapitation or internal decapitation and occurs when ligaments and/or bony structures connecting the skull to the spine are damaged, according to a paper published in the World Journal of Orthopedics. It is a common cervical spine injury in motor vehicle accident deaths.

“We fought for the boy’s life,” Einav told The Times of Israel. “The procedure itself is very complicated and took several hours. While in the operating room, we used new plates and fixations in the damaged area… Our ability to save the child was thanks to our knowledge and the most innovative technology in the operating room.”

“The injury is extremely rare,” he added, “but we do know that because children between ages four and 10 have heads that are large in relation to their bodies, they are more susceptible than adults.”

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The surgery was carried out in June, but the doctors waited a month to reveal the outcome, Fox News reported. Hassan was recently sent home from the hospital with a neck brace and will remain under medical supervision, according to the outlet.

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"The fact that such a child has no neurological deficits or sensory or motor dysfunction and that he is functioning normally and walking without an aid after such a long process is no small thing," Einav said, according to the outlet.

Hassan’s father did not leave his son’s bedside during his recovery, the medical staff said, per The Times of Israel.

“I will thank you all my life for saving my dear only son,” the boy’s father said. “Bless you all. Thanks to you he regained his life even when the odds were low and the danger was obvious. What saved him were professionalism, technology and quick decision-making by the trauma and orthopedics team. All I can say is a big thank you.”

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