A central Chinese hospital saved a man's severed hand by grafting it onto his ankle for a month before returning it to his arm.

Twenty-five-year-old Xie Wei from Hunan province lost his right hand in a heavy machinery accident in the factory where he worked, in early November.

He arrived at the Xiangya Hospital in the provincial capital, Changsha, seven hours later.

According to a statement by the hospital, at room temperature, the tissue of the hand would have died within around 10 hours.

Transplanting it onto blood vessels on Xie's own body was the best way to save it, and also prevented further blood loss from the injured arm, the statement said.

Thirty-five days later, on December 4, the hand was transplanted back form the ankle to Xie's arm, photographs provided by the hospital show.

In a brief telephone interview from the hospital, Xie told Reuters he would never have believed the hand could have been saved.

Xie said it still felt numb, and would take months for some real function to return.

According to the hospital's statement, a great deal of rehabilitation and function rebuilding exercises were needed for it to function better than a prosthetic hand.