title: Sural nerve autografts for high radial nerve injury with nine centimeter or greater defects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to present the outcome of sural nerve grafting that focuses on motor fascicles in 6 patients with high radial nerve injuries with defects of more than 9 cm.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six patients with a high radial nerve complete injury were treated with a sural nerve autograft during a 6-year interval from June 1994 to June 2000. The gap of the radial nerve, which was measured in the surgical field, was 9 cm in 1 patient, 10 cm in 4 patients, and 11 cm in 1 patient. There were 4 men and 2 women with an average age of 32 years (range, 14-49 years). The causes of the injuries were a fracture of the humerus in 4 patients and surgery-related complications in 2 patients. Two or 3 multiple interfascicular nerve autografts of the sural nerve were sutured to the areas that have motor fascicles dominantly. The average delay from the injury to surgery was 6 months (range, 0.5-12 months), and the average duration of the follow-up after surgery was 48 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall motor recovery was M5 in 2 patients, M4 in 3 patients, and M2 in 1 patient. The overall sensory recovery was S3+ in 2 patients, S3 in 3 patients, and S1 in 1 patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, good to excellent motor recovery can be expected in 83% of patients who have a large gap of the radial nerve when sural nerve autografts are sutured to the areas that have motor fascicles dominantly. Even for large gaps, within 8 months, an attempt at nerve reconstruction before proceeding to tendon transfers appears to be indicated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therapeutic IV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Moon Sang
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Hyun Sik
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Jae Yoon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jong Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Goo Hyun
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Baek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001134:Arm Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D011826:Radial Nerve / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000637:transplantation*; D013997:Time Factors; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome