Temporary Arteriovenous Loop Between the Saphenous Vein and the First Plantar Metatarsal Artery in Toe-to-Hand Transfers

Abstract

We describe a technique for creating a temporary arteriovenous loop by anastomosing the saphenous vein to the first plantar metatarsal artery to facilitate harvesting and subsequent anastomosis of a great or second toe transfer. This technique has been used in 9 patients: 6 pediatric toe-to-hand transfers for congenital hand differences and 3 adult toe transfers for a thumb amputation. All 9 toe transfers survived. The advantages of this technique are that it allows precise determination of the exact length of the loop to reach the recipient artery, it facilitates palmar positioning of the arterial pedicle, and, if necessary, the saphenous vein can be anastomosed directly to the lateral digital artery of a great toe transfer or the medial digital artery of a second toe transfer rather than the first plantar metatarsal artery itself, thereby minimizing more proximal dissection of the first plantar metatarsal artery, which is more difficult and time consuming.