ARTERIAL BRIDGING FOR REPAIR OF PERIPHERAL-NERVE GAP - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

A new experimental model was designed in which the regeneration of rat femoral nerve across a 8 mm excised gap was investigated after insert ion of the distal and proximal stumps into the anatomically and functi onally intact femoral artery (AIAB). This model was compared with grou ps of free artery and autologous nerve grafting. After a period of 12 weeks, a histological and electrophysiological analysis was carried ou t, which demonstrated that the AIAB and autologous nerve grafting grou p had a significantly higher percentage of regeneration compared with the free artery-graft group. The nerve regeneration and intraneural va scular reconstruction that occured within AIAB group were more success ful than those that occured in the artery and nerve-grafting groups.