FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF TIBIAL-NERVE RECOVERY IN THE CAT USING GAIT ANALYSIS - PRELIMINARY-STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate gait-pattern changes afte r complete tibial nerve lesion in the cat, and to observe whether nerv e repair could reverse some of the changes. In six cats, a 5-cm segmen t of the tibial nerve was transected. The nerve gap was then repaired with nerve autograft in three animals and was unrepaired in three as c ontrols. The walking patterns of the cats were videotaped, and the hip , knee, ankle, and metatarsophalangeal joint angles were measured at t he beginnings of the F, E1, E2, and E3 phases of the step cycle. Two w eeks after surgery, abnormal gait patterns were observed, and four gai t parameters (E3.Hip, E3.Ankle, E3.M-P, and F.Ankle) were found to be statistically significantly different from normal. Six months after su rgery, the nerve-graft group had gait-parameter values approaching nor mal, while the control group showed no measurable improvement. Corresp ondingly, electrophysiologic testing revealed considerable nerve regen eration in the nerve-graft group but not in the control group. It was concluded that these gait parameters can be used as valid functional i ndices to evaluate the degree of tibial nerve recovery in the cat mode l.