Microsurgical anatomy in China.

This is a general review on the recent advances made in China of microsurgical anatomy. In recent years, more than 300 research papers and a number of monographs on microsurgical anatomy have been published in China. In the research of skin and musculocutaneous flaps, much applied anatomical data about more than 30 new donor areas have been collected and the investigations on the patterns of the blood supply of the flaps are instructively significant to clinical practice. New donor areas have also been introduced for scapular, radial, tibial and other bone flaps, and the range of indications for using the periosteal and cartilaginous flaps has been broadened. On the basis of the technique of superficial lymphaticovenous anastomosis, new information for deep typhaticovenous anastomosis has been provided by clinical anatomists. Through experimental research, the anatomists pointed out that lymphatic vessels with contracting ability should be selected for anastomosis in order to enhance the long term effect of the operation. The successful experiment of bridging the peripheral nerve gap with skeletal muscle, which has been clinically used, has opened up a hopeful prospect for solving the problem of the unavailability of autogenous nerve donors. The identification of nerve fascicles in the nerve trunk provides a morphological basis for the selection of different suture patterns. In addition, much research work has been done on the tranplantation of the suprarenal gland, pancreas, parathyroid gland, testis, kidney of foetus and other small organs.