title: Peripheral nerve reconnection: improvement of long-term functional effects under simulated clinical conditions in the rat.
abstract: Despite increasing precision of the microsurgical management of peripheral nerve injuries, measured by eventual return of function, there has been no clear improvement in the outcome. By taking into consideration a number of chemical and physical factors that could influence the condition of injured nerves, we developed a reconnection technique and have applied that technique under conditions mimicking those of human nerve injury. Within 4 weeks, all rats treated by reconnection had substantial return of motor function as measured by gait. Seventy-four days after surgery, performance of the animals receiving this reconnection treatment was 66% better than that of the animals treated by conventional microsuturing.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D013536:Suture Techniques