Arterialized venous free sural nerve grafting.

Since August 1980, a new technique of nerve grafting has been developed in our clinic. A free sural nerve graft, with its attached small saphenous vein arterialized, was used for repairing long segments of nerve defects. Experimental studies of this kind of nerve graft have proved the merits of this new technique. The same favorable results were then obtained in 14 patients, with 2 grafts failing because of vascular thrombosis. We have the impression that the shorter the time interval between the injury and the surgical repair, the better the result. In 2 patients with motor nerve injury, the motor function was well recovered when the operation was performed within 6 months after the injury, whereas none was recovered in those cases with an interval longer than 2 years.