Vascular anatomy of the palmar surfaces of the distal radius and ulna: its relevance to pedicled bone grafts at the distal palmar forearm.

The potential for harvesting vascularized bone grafts from the palmar surface of the distal radius has been studied in 40 arms of fresh cadavers which had previously been injected with coloured latex solution. It was found that vascularized grafts can be pedicled on the radial part of the palmar carpal arterial arch. If a longer pedicle is required, the bone graft can be pedicled on the anterior branch of the anterior interosseous artery with retrograde flow occurring from the palmar carpal arch.