Arteriography before toe to hand free tissue transfer operation.

During the last two years the hand surgeons performed toe to hand transfer operations on eight patients. Preoperative hand and foot arteriography was carried out in all cases. This is important in order to determine which arteries can be used and which toe should be selected for the transfer. The great toe was transplanted in three patients and the second toe in five. In seven cases the operation was successful but in one the transferred second toe was lost. There was no difference between the diameters of the anastomosed arteries in the successful cases and in the failure, but the diameter of the digital artery in the latter was smaller than in the successful cases.