As an alternative to autologous nerve donors, acellular nerve allografts (ANAs) have been studied in many experiments. There have been numerous studies on processing ANAs and various studies on the clinical applications of ANA, but there have not been many studies on sources of ANAs. The purposes of the present study were to evaluate the course of the saphenous and sural nerves in human cadavers and help harvest auto- or allografts for clinical implications. Eighteen lower extremities of 16 fresh cadavers were dissected. For the saphenous nerve and sural nerve, the distances between each branch and the diameters at the midpoint between each branch were measured. In the saphenous nerve, the mean length between each branch ranged from 7.2 to 28.6 cm, and the midpoint diameter ranged from 1.4 to 3.2 mm. In the sural nerve, the mean length between each branch ranged from 17.4 to 21 cm, and the midpoint diameter ranged from 2.3 to 2.8 mm. The present study demonstrates the length of the saphenous and sural nerve without branches with diameters larger than 1 mm. With regard for the clinical implications of allografts, the harvest of a selective nerve length with a large enough diameter could be possible based on the data presented in the present study.

中文翻译：

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隐神经和腓肠神经的解剖结构，是同种异体神经处理的来源。

作为自体神经供体的替代方法，已经在许多实验中研究了脱细胞神经同种异体移植物（ANAs）。关于处理ANA的研究已经很多，关于ANA的临床应用的研究也很多，但是关于ANA的来源却没有很多研究。本研究的目的是评估人尸体中隐性和腓肠神经的进程，并帮助收集自体或同种异体移植物以用于临床。解剖了16个新鲜尸体的18个下肢。对于隐神经和腓肠神经，测量每个分支之间的距离和每个分支之间的中点直径。在隐神经中，每个分支之间的平均长度为7.2至28.6 cm，中点直径为1.4至3.2 mm。在腓肠神经中 每个分支之间的平均长度为17.4至21厘米，中点直径为2.3至2.8毫米。本研究表明隐性和腓肠神经的长度无分支，直径大于1毫米。考虑到同种异体移植的临床意义，根据本研究提供的数据，可以收获直径足够大的选择性神经长度。