Present Status of Microsurgical Replantation

The replantation of amputated parts has stimulated the imagination of writers since antiquity. It was not until the successful replantation of an arm by Malt and a hand by Chen Chung Wei in 1953 that these fables became reality. The simultaneous development of the field of microsurgery permitting the repair of one millimetre vessels made possible the replantation of structures fed by these small vessels such as fingers, ears, noses, lips, scalps and penises.