Despite the existence of various nerve coaptation techniques, functional re
sults of nerve repair are still inadequate. Potential benefits of developin
g modified coaptation techniques cannot be disregarded. The authors report
a new coaptation technique in which the nerves are cut in an oblique fashio
n to increase the coaptational surface. The sciatic nerves of male Wistar a
lbino rats were cut at an angle of 30 and 45 deg (experimental groups), and
90 deg (control group). The nerves were repaired with nine 10-0 epineural
stitches. Functional and histological studies were performed at week 12 on
7 rats from the 30-deg group, 15 rats from the 45-deg group, and 7 rats fro
m the 90-deg group. Mean sciatic function index values of walking track ana
lysis were the following: 30-deg group, -42.4 +/- 15.4; 45-deg group, -44.7
+/- 17.9; and 90-deg group, -52.9 +/- 13.9 (p > 0.05). The mean values of
myelinated axonal counts for the 30-deg, 45-deg, and 90-deg transection gro
ups were 196.2 +/- 3.7, 196.1 +/- 3.7, and 176.1 +/- 5.6 respectively for p
roximal nerve segments and 180.1 +/- 6.8, 178.2 +/- 3.8, and 114.1 +/- 17.3
respectively for distal samples. Both the 30-deg and 45-deg coaptational g
roups had a significantly lower reduction of myelinated axonal counts at th
e regeneration zone in comparison with the 90-deg group (p < 0.01). Mean my
elinated axonal diameters in the proximal nerve segments were 8.2 +/- 2.6 m
u m 8.4 +/- 3.1 mu m, and 8.1 +/- 3.2 mu m respectively, and were 7.1 +/- 3
.6 mu m, 6.9 +/- 3.4 mu m, and 6.7 +/- 3.4 mu m respectively in the distal
nerve segments (p > 0.05). The oblique nerve coaptation technique may enhan
ce nerve regeneration by enabling a larger sprouting and contact area for n
erve fibers, but additional investigation by more experienced centers is ne
eded before relying on the preliminary results of this simple modification.