Biology of tendon repair.

ALTHOUGH restorative hand surgery is correctly regarded as having been developed primarily in military centers, repair of flexor tendons, one of the most frequent and difficult problems in civilian practice, was not significantly influenced by war experience. The frequency of flexor-tendon lacerations, the relatively long amplitude of tendon motion required to flex a digit, and the nonselective nature of the healing process have been responsible for discouraging results and for the increased attention that flexor-tendon repair has received in the postwar period. Now, some twenty years since injuries of flexor tendons and digital nerves have become more important than the . . .