Past, present and future of vascularised bone transfers in the hand and wrist

The author specifies the aims and indications for simple or compound pedicle or free vascularised bone and bone and joint grafts (VBGs and VBJGs). He relates the history of VBGs whose indications for the wrist are often many and varied for the treatment of scaphoid non-union and Kienböch's disease. Within the hand the indication for compound VBGs is dominated by thumb reconstruction (skin and bone grafts). Compound VBGs and VBJGs used in an emergency for hand trauma, harvested from another irrecoverable long finger (bank finger) are extremely varied and adapted to each particular case. For secondary joint reconstruction in the adult, VBJGs must be discussed along with prosthetic arthroplasties (radio-carpal, lower radio-ulnar, trapezo-metacarpal, interphalangeal). For children VBJGs with an included growth plate maintain their indication. The immediate future of VBGs is that of a better knowledge of bone necrosis and bone innervation as well as an improvement in surgical techniques: microsurgery and robotics, mini-invasive surgery (wrist arthroscopy). The near future for VBGs is to control bone consolidation thanks to progress in the bio-engineering of bone tissue, which may make them obsolete and, for VBJGs, vascularised joint allografts, thanks to progress in immunosuppressant treatments. Although the immediate future and this near future may be envisaged according to the current advances, the same is not true for the distant future which remains totally unforeseeable, although this might involve regeneration and construction of organs by man himself.