[Osseous vascular anatomy in the hand and wrist]

Abstract

The design and the realization of vascularized osseous grafts at the hand and the wrist require a precise knowledge of the general and regional anatomy. This article gives first a progress report on current knowledge about the general organization of arterial and venous vascularization, of the long bones (number and localization of the nutrient foramina, communication between the epiphyseo-metaphyseal and diaphyseal networks) and of the short bones, in the adult and the child, before the closing of the growth plate. The general organization of arterial vascularization of the hand and the wrist is pointed out, with the current nomenclature and the contribution of the recent publications, in particular in these, which relate to the distal extremity of the radius. The vascularization of each bone (radius and ulna, carpal bones, metacarpals and phalanges) is then described; making way, the anatomical bases of each vascularized bone graft, which can be harvested there, are described. The last technical projections are included, in particular the realization of the reverse flow vascularized bone grafts harvested from the metacarpals. This article still gives a progress report on the osseous vascularization of the short bones, in particular of those which are exposed the most to the osteonecrosis (scaphoid, lunatum). It has the ambition to light the reader and to prepare him (her) with the reading of the following chapters.