Treatment of painful peripheral neuromas by vein implantation.

Firstly, we designed a vein-implantation model using the rat femoral nerve and vein to study the morphometric changes in nerve endings inserted into venous lumina. By 4 weeks, nerve fibers had extended from the nerve stump into the lumen of the vein and along the endothelium of the vein. After 8 weeks, the lengths and number of nerve fibres extending into the vein lumen began to decrease. At 12 weeks, the nerve ending had developed a hemispherical shape. In none of the experiments was a neuroma formed. Secondly, we treated ten neuromas in ten patients by the vein-implantation method. We obtained excellent results in seven patients.