Interfascicular Nerve Grafting in the Treatment of the Peripheral Nerve Injury

Yoo, Myung Chul; Chung, Duke Whan; Han, Jung Soo; Kim, Ki Yung; Bhyun, Sang Yoon

Abstract

The authors performed the interfascicular nerve grafting in the gap of injured nerves using the microsurgical technique to obtain the accurate coaptation of the fascicles. The authors experienced the 33 cases(26 patients) of the interfascicular nerve grafting in the median(11), ulnar(9), radial(2), common peroneal(3) and digital(8) nerves at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University from Jan. 1980 to June 1984. The patients were followed up from 12 to 26 months (average 20 1/2 months). The following results were obtained; 1. The shorter the length of the donor nerve and the younger the age of the patients are, the better the recovery of the nerve function is. 2. The medial and lateral cutaneous nerves of forearm as donor nerve are suitable as well as the sural and superficial radial nerves. 3. The end result of each patient was evaluated by Seddon's classification. The excellent motor recovery was 72.0% (18/25) and the excellent sensory recovery was 81.8% (27/33). 4. The interfascicular nerve grafting is an excellent method in treating the widely separated,severed peripheral nerve injury.