title: Peripheral nerve lengthening as a regenerative strategy.
abstract: Peripheral nerve injury impairs motor, sensory, and autonomic function, incurring substantial financial costs and diminished quality of life. For large nerve gaps, proximal lesions, or chronic nerve injury, the prognosis for recovery is particularly poor, even with autografts, the current gold standard for treating small to moderate nerve gaps. In vivo elongation of intact proximal stumps towards the injured distal stumps of severed peripheral nerves may offer a promising new strategy to treat nerve injury. This review describes several nerve lengthening strategies, including a novel internal fixator device that enables rapid and distal reconnection of proximal and distal nerve stumps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Vaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Sameer B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Shah
keywords: biomedical device; mechanical loading; nerve injury; nerve regeneration; nerve transfer; peripheral nerve