Abstract: To reveal the overview of distribution pattern of the ankle and dorsal foot cutaneous nerves, and provide morphological guidance for sensory reconstruction in skin flap transplantation. Methods    The skin of ankle and dorsal foot with subcutaneous fat was removed from 24 adult cadavers, and the distribution pattern of cutaneous nerve was displayed by the modified Sihler's staining method.   Results   In the specimen stained with Sihler's staining, the distribution pattern of the cutaneous nerve branches can be seen by naked eyes. The saphenous nerve innervated (40.01±7.6) % of the anterior ankle, (30±6.7) % of the posterior ankle, and part of the medial border of the dorsal foot. The superficial peroneal nerve innervated the (60.03±6.8) % of anterior ankle. The medial dorsal cutaneous nerve innervated the medial dorsal foot, the dorsum of the first and second toe, and the medial half of dorsum of the third toe. 95.83 % of the intermediate dorsal cutaneous nerve innervated the lateral half of dorsum of the third toe, and the dorsum of the fourth and the fifth toe. The sural nerve innervated (70±5.3) % of the posterior ankle, and the dorsolateral cutaneous nerve innervated the dorsolateral border of the foot. The deep peroneal nerve distributed to the opposite side of the first and second toes. The density of the primary nerve branches was the highest in the anterior ankle, and the density of the secondary and subsequent nerve branches and the total nerve branches were the highest in the dorsomedial region of the foot.    Conclusions  In the flap transplantation of ankle or dorsal foot, it is suggested that the anterior ankle region or the medial dorsal foot region should be designed as the preferred donor site for sensory reconstruction or the recipient site with higher sensory needs.

Key words: Ankle,  ,  , Dorsal foot,  ,  , Cutaneous nerve,  ,  , Distribution pattern,  ,  , Sensory reconstruction