Use of the anterior branch of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve as a graft for the repair of defects of the digital nerve.

Using the anterior branch of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve, grafting was performed on twenty-one digital nerves. The goal of the procedure was to repair a traumatic defect of greater than one centimeter in the digital nerves of fourteen patients. The patients were followed for twenty-four to eighty-nine months (average, fifty-seven months). All but one nerve graft restored the ability to distinguish between sharp and dull stimuli, and all but three restored two-point discrimination of between five and fifteen millimeters (average, nine millimeters). No painful neuromas developed at the donor site.

Duke Scholars

Author James Albert Nunley II Orthopaedic Surgery

Author Richard Douglas Goldner Orthopaedic Surgery

Author James Randolph Urbaniak Orthopaedic Surgery