Plasma Clot Suture of Peripheral Nerves and Nerve Roots: Rationale and Technique.

It has been well recognized that present suture methods, even in the most skilled hands, are gross and traumatic. A newer, gentler technic, if successful, fulfils a great need. The author gathered all available information on his subject. A full chapter is devoted to the discussion of suitable types of plasma and includes a discussion of the mold employed in clot suturing. A combination of this technic with tantalum wire tension sutures is described. There is a valuable and illuminating chapter on the author's technic of nerve graft. Experimental work on the repair of cauda equina lesions by nerve graft and clot sutures is presented. This technic seems to be successful in monkeys, and the author implies that it should be successful in man. If this is the case, much has been accomplished. Unfortunately, however, peripheral nerve recovery, following repair, is well known to be much more successful in experimental