[Vein interposition as a pathway for peripheral nerve regeneration]. / Veneninterponat als Leitbahn für die Regeneration peripherer Nerven.

In experiments on rabbits the use of a vein graft for bridging defects of peripheral nerves was examined. A 10-20 mm long segment of sciatic nerve was removed bilaterally. On one side the gap was bridged with an autologous nerve graft, on the other one an autologous vein graft was used. With relatively small gaps (10 mm) both methods revealed comparable results. When bridging larger defects, the results with nerve grafts were superior to those obtained with vein grafts.