Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T09:24:19.622Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CO2 laser repair of the facial nerve: an experimental study in the rat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Joseph C. Dort*
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Markus Wolfensberger
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Heidi Felix
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology of the University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
*
Joseph C. Dort, M.D., Department of Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, University of Calgary, Room 193A, Heritage Medical Research Building, 3330 Hospital Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1.

Abstract

The facial nerve is often injured by trauma, infection or during the course of tumour resection. Many techniques of nerve anastomosis have been described with the current standard nerve repair using the microscope and monofilament suture. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CO2 surgical laser as a tool for facial nerve anastomosis. Following preliminary electrical measurements 36 nerves were anastomosed using either laser or conventional monofilament suture. Laser anastomosis had neither beneficial nor detrimental effects on nerve regeneration. This method of anastomosis may be advantageous when surgical access is limited. In addition this study found that the use of CO2 laser as a dissecting or vapourizing tool in proximity to intact facial nerves results in degenerative changes.

Type
Main Articles
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Presented at the VIIth International Symposium on the facial nerve, Cologne, June 9–14, 1992.

References

Bailes, J. E., Cozzens, J. W., Hudson, A. R., Kline, D. G., Ciric, I., Gianaris, P., Bernstein, L. P., Hunter, D. (1989) Laser-assisted nerve repair in primates. Journal of Neurosurgery 71: 266272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beggs, J. L., Fischer, D. W., Shetter, A. G. (1986) Comparative study of rat sciatic nerve microepineurial anastomoses made with carbon dioxide laser and suture techniques. Part 2: A morphometric analysis of myelinated nerve fibres. Neurosurgery 18(3): 266269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benke, T. A., Clark, J. W., Wisoff, P. J., Schneider, S., Balasubramaniam, C., Hawkins, H. K., Laurent, J., Perling, I., Shehab, A. (1989) Comparative study of suture and laser-assisted anastomoses in rat sciatic nerves. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 9: 602615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campion, E. R., Bynum, D. K., Powers, S. K. (1990) Repair of peripheral nerves with the argon laser: a functional and histological evaluation. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 72-A (5): 715723.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de la Torre, J. C., Karaca, M., Merali, Z., Fortin, T., Richard, M. (1988) Laser of razor?: a novel experimental peripheral nerve repair technique. Neurosurgery 22(3): 531539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Medinacelli, L., Seaber, A. V. (1989) Experimental nerve reconnection: importance of initial repair. Microsurgery 10: 5670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Medinacelli, L., Freed, W. J., Wyatt, R. J. (1982) An index of the functional condition of rat sciatic nerve based on measurements made from walking tracks. Experimental Neurology 77: 634643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eppley, B. L., Kalenderian, E., Winkelmann, T., Delfino, J. J. (1989) Facial nerve graft repair: suture versus laser-assisted anastomosis. International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 10: 5054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisch, U., Mattox, D. (1988) Microsurgery of the Skull Base, Georg Thieme, Verlag, Stuttgart, pp 104108.Google Scholar
Fischer, D. W., Beggs, J. L., Kenshalo, D. L., Shetter, A. G. (1985) Comparative study of microepineural anastomoses with the use of CO2 laser and suture techniques in rat sciatic nerves. Part I: Surgical technique, nerve action potentials and morphological studies. Neurosurgery 17(2): 300308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleeson, M. J., Felix, H. (1986) The C´letron ultrasonic surgical aspirator system: an anatomical and physiological study of the effect of its use on the rat facial nerve. Clinical Otolaryngology 11: 177187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hassard, T. H. (1991) Understanding Biostatistics, Mosby Year Book Inc., New York, pp 8889.Google Scholar
Maragh, H., Hawn, R. S., Gould, J. D., Terzis, J. (1988) Is laser nerve repair comparable to microsuture coaptation? Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery 4(3): 189195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mattox, D. E., Felix, H. (1987) Surgical anatomy of the rat facial nerve. American Journal of Otology 8: 4347.Google ScholarPubMed
Schober, R., Ulrich, F., Sander, T., Durselen, H., Hessel, S. (1986) Laser-induced alteration of collagen substructure allows microsurgical tissue welding. Science 232: 14211422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wickholm, R. P., Swett, J. E., Torigoe, Y., Blanks, R. H. I. (1988) Repair of severed peripheral nerve: a superior anatomic and functional recovery with a new ‘reconnection’ technique. Otolaryngology-Head and NeckSurgery 99: 353361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar