title: Morphological Detection and Functional Assessment of Regenerated Nerve after Neural Prosthesis with a PGLA Nerve Conduit.
abstract: This study aimed to observe the morphological characteristics of a PGLA [poly(glycolide-co-L-lactide)] nerve conduit and regenerated nerve bundle in the human body using high-frequency ultrasound and examine functional recovery of the regenerated nerve using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) after neural prosthesis with a PGLA nerve conduit. Thirty-nine patients underwent high-frequency ultrasound, and one patient with superficial radial nerve injury (27-mm defect) underwent fMRI at one, three, and six postoperative months. The fMRI examination results were compared with sensory detection and high-frequency ultrasound results during the same follow-up window period. The normal and regenerated nerve bundles had similar ultrasonic imaging features. At one postoperative month, fMRI displayed activeness of the normal cortex in the brain region corresponding to the contralateral superficial radial nerve, while no activeness was observed on the ipsilateral side. From three to six postoperative months, fMRI revealed gradually increasing activeness in the brain region corresponding to the ipsilateral superficial radial nerve, but the activation area on the ipsilateral side was smaller than that on the contralateral side. Combining morphological detection of the regenerated nerve using high-frequency ultrasound and functional detection of the regenerated nerve using fMRI may be a valuable method for evaluating repair of peripheral nerve injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.|Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai 200063, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Jian
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Jiu-Zhou
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hand Surgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D058117:Neural Prostheses; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011826:Radial Nerve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer