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Costa et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2020;7:32 Plastic and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-9264.2020.43 Aesthetic Research

Review Open Access

Nerve transfers in distal forearm and in the hand

Alfio Luca Costa , Paolo Titolo , Bruno Battiston , Michele Rosario Colonna
1
2
1
2
1 Department of Human Pathology of the Adult, the Child and the Adolescent, University of Messina, Messina 98125, Italy.
2 Depatment of Traumatology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Citta della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin 10126, Italy.
Correspondence to: Dr. Costa Alfio Luca, Department of Human Pathology of the Adult, the Child and the Adolescent, University
of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, Messina 98125, Italy. E-mail: alfiocosta@hotmail.it

How to cite this article: Costa AL, Titolo P, Battiston B, Colonna MR. Nerve transfers in distal forearm and in the hand. Plast
Aesthet Res 2020;7:32. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2020.43

Received: 20 Mar 2020 First Decision: 21 May 2020 Revised: 7 Jun 2020 Accepted: 7 Jun 2020 Published: 24 Jun 2020
Science Editor: Alessandro Thione Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Nerve transfers were used, originally, to restore shoulder and elbow function in brachial plexus lesions. This
concept has been developed over the years and applied to distal nerve injuries in which lower functionality was
expected because of the gap between the injury site and the target muscle. The aim of this review is to describe
nerve transfers in the distal forearm and hand for isolated lesions of the median, ulnar and radial nerves. The
different advantages achieved by transposition of a functional nerve stump near the effector muscle have opened
up new options for the management of nerve lesions. Some of these alternatives have only been recently reported
and a few are exclusively case reports.

Keywords: Nerve transfers, nerve injury, hand surgery, babysitting, coaptation, microsurgery

INTRODUCTION
Nerve transfers were originally adopted for brachial plexus lesions to restore shoulder and elbow
[1-3]
[4]
function . This concept has been developed over the years and now, applied to distal nerve injuries
in which poor functional outcomes were anticipated because of the gap between the injury site and the
innervated muscle. The aim of this review is to describe nerve transfers in the distal forearm and hand for
isolated lesions of the median, ulnar and radial nerves.

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
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