A microsurgical suture technique without the need for vascular clamps.

Vascular clamps are often used during microvascular repair and anastomosis. However, pressure exerted by the clamps may damage the vessels, which compromises patency of vessels. This article reports on a microsurgical suture technique performed without any clamp to avoid clamp-related problems.

Classification of distal fingertip amputation based on the arterial system for replantation.

During replantation of distal fingertip amputation, identification of the artery is the most important but time consuming procedure. Depending on the damaged arterial structure, we classified distal fingertip amputations into 4 zones, on the basis of three dimensional concept. Zone 1 injury was defined as damage to the proximal central pulp artery; zone 2 injury, damage to the branch of the central pulp artery; zone 3 injury, damage to the distal central pulp artery; and zone 4 injury, no injury to the central pulp artery, injury only to the lateral pulp artery.