Use of the anterior branch of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve as a graft for the repair of defects of the digital nerve.

Using the anterior branch of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve, grafting was performed on twenty-one digital nerves. The goal of the procedure was to repair a traumatic defect of greater than one centimeter in the digital nerves of fourteen patients. The patients were followed for twenty-four to eighty-nine months (average, fifty-seven months). All but one nerve graft restored the ability to distinguish between sharp and dull stimuli, and all but three restored two-point discrimination of between five and fifteen millimeters (average, nine millimeters). No painful neuromas developed at the donor site.