Surgical repair of extratemporal facial nerve: a comparison of suture repair and microfibrillar collagen repair.
The extratemporal portion of the facial nerve is often severed by various forms of surgical and non-surgical trauma. A commonly accepted method of repair is with monofilament nylon suture, using microsurgical techniques to approximate the epineurium. A study was designed to compare the clinical and histologic success of repair using microfibrillar collagen hemostat (Avitene) with that of suture repair of the epineurium. Although the success rates of these two methods of repair of peripheral facial nerves in rabbits appear to be functionally equivalent, the histologic results show the suture repair to be superior.
D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011817:Rabbits; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014014:Tissue Adhesives
D014014:Tissue Adhesives; D003094:Collagen