A COMPARISON OF NERVE GRAFTING AND TISSUE EXPANSION TECHNIQUES IN THERAT

This study compares nerve repair following tissue expansion with nerve repair using an interposed graft in the rat. Group I had expansion co nducted over 2 weeks at 40 mmHg. A 4 mm segment was excised from the l engthened nerve and repaired primarily. Group II had a 4 mm segment of nerve excised and then replaced as an interposition graft. Group III was sham-operated controls. Thirteen weeks postoperatively, all animal s were evaluated using walking track analysis. Thirty-five rats finish ed the study: Eleven in group I, 10 in group II, and 14 in group III. The Sciatic Functional Index (SFI) was calculated for each group as fo llows: group I, -57 +/- 11 (mean +/- standard deviation); group II, 59 +/- 25; group III, - 13 +/- 6.5. The control group was significantly better than either experimental group (P < 0.01). The two experimental groups were not statistically different. Nerve repair following expan sion allowed only one coaptation to be used. Functional results were t he same as with interposition grafting. Repair by the expansion techni que would eliminate the need to harvest a nerve graft, and the subsequ ent donor defect.