NEUROVASCULAR FREE MUSCLE TRANSFER COMBINED WITH CROSS-FACE NERVE GRAFTING FOR THE TREATMENT OF FACIAL PARALYSIS IN CHILDREN

Microneurovascular free muscle transfer is fast becoming a standardize d procedure in the treatment of established or long-standing facial pa ralysis. However, there is no general agreement as to whether muscle t ransfer should be employed for children who still are growing. A patie nt's natural growth may influence or disturb reproduction of a smile, or a child may not be able to collaborate with postoperative rehabilit ation sufficiently well to obtain a satisfactory result. One may hesit ate to employ the procedure for children aged under to out of fear of its technical difficulties. To investigate the influence of age, the r esults experienced by 23 patients under the age of 15 who underwent fr ee muscle transfer combined with cross-face nerve grafting were compar ed with those of adult patients. The treatment employed was a two-stag e operation consisting of cross-face nerve grafting and subsequent fre e muscle transfer.