REPAIR OF DIGITAL NERVE DEFECT WITH AUTOGENOUS VEIN GRAFT DURING FLEXOR TENDON SURGERY IN ZONE-2

Autogenous vein graft was used to fill 18 digital nerve defects betwee n 0.5 to 5.8 cm in length during flexor tendon surgery in zone 2. The vein was taken from the forearm and reversed to bridge the digital ner ve. For nerves with defects over 2.0 cm, normal nerve slices were inse rted inside vein conduits. Recovery of sensibility was evaluated by vo n Frey test, pin-prick detection, localization of stimulus, moving two -point discrimination and sweating on the finger pulp. Follow-up revea led excellent recovery in two digital nerves, good in nine, fair in fi ve and poor in two. The results suggest that vein graft provides a sim ple and practical method to reconstruct a digital nerve defect during tendon repair in zone 2.