Subjective recovery of nerve graft donor site

Nerve graft procedures require the use of a donor nerve to supply the graft material. This results in an area of numbness in a less critical region. The purpose of this study was to assess donor site recovery using patient subjective evaluation. Thirty-one patients (mean age, 38 years) who were at least 2 years past a nerve graft procedure participated in the telephone survey. The mean time since surgery was 65 months. Donor nerves from the lower extremity were utilized in 16 patients and from the upper extremity in 15 patients. The subjective patient evaluations indicated low levels of pain, numbness, and cold sensitivity in the donor nerve sensory distribution. Patient factors, including workers' compensation and legal involvement, did not have a significant effect on recovery at the donor site. Function and daily activity were not affected significantly by donor site factors. Satisfaction with nerve graft recovery was related significantly to reported patient satisfaction of the donor site (p = 0.002).