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Orthopaedic Proceedings
Vol. 86-B, Issue SUPP_II | Pages 171 - 171
1 Feb 2004
Psychoyios VN Villanueva-Lòpez F Cuadros-Romero M Zambiakis Å Sekouris Í Fernández-Martín J Cañada-Oya S
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Introduction: Traumatic injury to a peripheral nerve with loss of continuity is a disabling condition due to denervation. Traditional treatment consists of nerve grafting with the consequence of unwanted side effects at the donor site (sural nerve).

Aims: To present an alternative treatment using two different biomaterials as implants bridging both ends of nerve.

Materials and Methods: The same hand surgeon treated twenty-one patients with traumatic laceration of less than 3 cm in the upper limb. Two different kind of flexible tubular sheaths were implanted: 18 patients with one and 3 with other. An independent observer assessed McKenney’s and two points discrimination tests for functional out come. We describe the surgical technique and report the full data.

Discussion: Polyglicolic acid is designed to create a conduct for axonal growth across a nerve gap making it unnecessary to carry out a nerve grafting. Its use is feasible in clean wounds less than 3 cm in length. It is technically easy to implant and reabsorbed within 3 months.

Conclusions: The satisfactory results in terms of functional recovery suggest the convenience of this technique to shorten the operating time and avoid donor site side effects.