[Internal thoracic vessels: importance in microsurgery].

The internal thoracic vessels were studied in seventy adult fresh corpses. The left and right vessels were studied so as to precise symmetry relating to the different characters. After injection of coloured latex, the arteries and veins were skeletonized. The origin, the caliber, the length, the connections with the sternal side, the ending were specified. The origin and the ending of these vessels are variable. A statistical study specifies these measures. In the second intercosal space a great contancy of these vessels was observed which was confirmed by angiography. They are used at this level to revascularize the subcutaneous esophagoplasties. The internal thoracic artery can be skeletonized by a right thoracotomy and allowed to revascularize a free jejunal graft for reconstruction of the upper thoracic esophagus.