Repair of peripheral nerves with preserved cadaver grafts has become one of the most promising fields of modern surgery. The results of animal experimentation and clinical application appear to justify this claim. This communication is a preliminary report dealing with the clinical application of experimental work of one of us1to 3 cases in which preserved cadaver grafts have been used to repair large defects in human peripheral nerves. To appreciate the failures of peripheral nerve surgery in the past, the pathologic anatomy of the traumatized nerve must be considered. When a nerve is severed there is considerable hemorrhage into the injured area. In the process of repair this hemorrhage is replaced by scar tissue and neuroma formation even when directly sutured. The consensus is that neuromas are largely due to the outgrowth of the proximal end of the neurons trying to find their way down the distal portion