Recent microsurgical advances in China

For more than two decades, microsurgery has been developed, practiced, and refined in China. For the most part, this has taken place independent of a parallel process in the Western World. Only until recent years has there been some communication from China regarding this microsurgical experience. The authors believe that there is much yet to be learned from the wealth of Chinese experience in microsurgery, just as Chinese surgeons have gained valuable information from the West. The authors reviewed the microsurgical literature in China from 1983 to 1986, and present here what we regard to be of particular interest to American microsurgeons, including the areas of digital reconstruction, replantation, flap transfer and transposition, and microsurgical techniques and patient management. Some historical background in the development of Chinese microsurgery is also provided.