A new atraumatic and simple method of taking sural nerve grafts.

Because the sural nerve has become the most frequently used nerve as graft material in peripheral nerve reconstruction, an atraumatic method was developed for its harvesting. The nerve is easily identified in the popliteal region by stretching it slightly behind the lateral malleolus. Only two short skin incisions are needed for centrifugal liberation of the nerve. The advantages of the method presented lie in shorter operation time, a superior cosmetic result and a fairly intact nerve for grafting.