Neurosurgery
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To learn how lesions with differing capacity for nerve regeneration affect the severity and duration of hyperalgesia in an animal model of neuropathic pain. ⋯ This study demonstrates that axotomy, regardless of how it is induced, produces hyperalgesia to both mechanical and cold stimuli. However, the lesion that favors regeneration is associated with earlier signs of recovery from mechanical hyperalgesia and less severe signs of cooling hyperalgesia. The data support the hypothesis that inputs from the injured afferents play an ongoing role in neuropathic pain from nerve injury. Nerve ligation induces more severe and more sustained behavioral signs of pain than nerve crush.
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Watertight dural repairs are difficult to achieve, and cerebrospinal fluid leakage causes complications and extends hospital stays. Therefore, a novel synthetic hydrogel film was evaluated as an adjunct to dural closure in a canine model. ⋯ The hydrogel-treated animals exhibited normal progression of dural healing, no dural adhesions, and no underlying effects on the brain. Although dural healing progressed normally, the control animals displayed marked peridural adhesions. The results of this in vivo study suggest that hydrogels, such as that used here, may significantly decrease cerebrospinal fluid leakage, thereby increasing the safety and effectiveness of dural closure in patients and facilitating surgical reexploration.