title: Assessment of muscle flap sensibility by evoked potentials in the rat.
abstract: This study investigated whether the sensory-to-motor reinervation of the muscle flap provides a better sensory recovery of an overlying skin graft. Fifty-four animals were studied in three groups of 18 rats each: group I (control): 1 cm of the gastrocnemius muscle motor nerve was excised and no repair was performed; group II (motor-to-motor repair): the motor nerve of the gastrocnemius flap was transected and repaired; group III (sensory-to-motor repair): the motor nerve of the gastrocnemius muscle and sural nerve were transected and their distal and proximal ends, respectively, were repaired. At follow-up periods of 6, 12, and 24 weeks, evaluation of hair growth, muscle atrophy, and sensory evoked potentials was performed. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) at 6 weeks in the sensory-to-motor repair (group III) revealed a significant (P < 0. 05) increase (104.4% +/- 22.9) in the relative response of peak-to-peak potentials when compared with group I (46.6% +/- 19) and group II (51.8% +/- 14.0). Muscle flap stimulation was most prominent at 6 weeks in sensory-to-motor reinvervated flaps (group III 133.1% +/- 25.4; group I 84.9% +/- 20.2). In this study, sensory-to-motor nerve repair significantly improved the sensibility of skin flaps at 6 weeks. Denervated flaps presented with 3 months of sensory recovery delay.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siemionow
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Latifoglu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Demirkan
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Siemionow
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lister
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D008866:Microsurgery; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000294:innervation*