Current status of orthopaedic microsurgery in Japan. Personal experience and review of the literature.

Among the Japanese contributions in reconstructive microsurgery, transplantation of composite tissues and replantation of amputated extremities are the most representative. With the standardization of the techniques of microsurgery and replantation, these operations have become relatively common. By July 1981, 3126 replantations had been performed in 78 hospitals with an 80%-90% success rate. Recently, surgeons have focused on the recovery of function. A recent analysis of the author's series of replantations through the end of 1980, using a scoring system of function evaluation criteria, showed that results in 72% of the 181 patients involving 259 upper extremity replants were excellent or good.