Sensory outcomes of fingertip replantations without nerve repair

Fingertip amputations are the most common type of amputation injury in the upper extremity.1 Replantation at thislevel is technically challenging because of thedecreased size of the digital arteries. With the advances in microsurgery, distal replantation today has become a common procedure, offering higher survival rates and excellent functional outcomes. Replantation has theadvantage of reconstructing the lost segment with original tissue and without the expense of donor site morbidity.Preservation of fingertip sensibility is crucial to the success of reconstruction and use of the finger. Replantations distal to the proximal nail fold involve repair of only the digital artery in most cases. The digital nerves are branched at this level and often not repaired. Although the lack of neurorraphy may raise concern about the sensory recovery of the replanted segment, excellent sensory recovery was reported in previous studies,2–5 especially in children.6 In this series, the sensory outcomes of distal digital replantation are retrospectively analyzed in a mixed population of adults and children.