A COMPARISON OF PERIPHERAL-NERVE REPAIR USING AN ABSORBABLE TUBULIZATION DEVICE AND CONVENTIONAL SUTURE IN PRIMATES

Median nerve regeneration was studied in 30 adult primates after repai r by microsurgical suture or tubulization with a nonwoven, bioabsorbab le, polyglycolic acid device. The two methods were compared electrophy siologically and histologically 6 and 12 months after repair. The elec trophysiology included recording of electrically evoked compound actio n potentials and subsequent determination of threshold, conduction vel ocity, amplitude, and area above the baseline for each component. Meas urements were obtained before nerve transection and at the time of bio psy by stimulating both proximal and distal to the transection site. A nalysis of all electrophysiological parameters revealed no statistical ly significant differences (p < 0.05) between the two repair technique s. Histopathology included examination of cross sections proximal and distal to the repair sites and longitudinal sections through the coapt ation site. End organs (Meissner's and Pacinian corpuscles and muscle) were sectioned to determine the degree of reinnervation. No significa nt differences between the repair techniques were observed by histolog ical analysis of these sections. These evaluations indicated that the tubulization repair technique produced results comparable to that of t he suture technique. (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.