Articles: peripheral-nerve-injuries.
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Peripheral nerve injuries resulting in a nerve defect require surgical repair. The gold standard of autograft (AG) has several limitations, and therefore, new alternatives must be developed. The main objective of this study was to assess nerve regeneration through a long gap nerve injury (50 mm) in the peroneal nerve of sheep with a decellularized nerve allograft (DCA). ⋯ The decellularized graft assayed supported effective axonal regeneration when used to repair a 5-cm long gap in the sheep. As expected, a delay in functional recovery was observed compared with the AG because of the lack of Schwann cells.
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Chronic sensory loss is a common and undertreated consequence of many forms of neurological injury. Emerging evidence indicates that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) delivered during tactile rehabilitation promotes recovery of somatosensation. Here, we systematically varied the timing of VNS relative to tactile rehabilitation to determine the paradigm that yields the greatest degree of somatosensory recovery after peripheral nerve injury (PNI). ⋯ Delivery of VNS during rehabilitative training generates robust, significant recovery compared to rehabilitative training without stimulation (56 ± 14% improvement over sham stimulation). A matched amount of VNS before training, immediately after training, or two hours after training is significantly less effective than VNS during rehabilitative training and fails to improve recovery compared to rehabilitative training alone (5 ± 10%, 4 ± 11%, and -7 ± 22% improvement over sham stimulation, respectively). These findings indicate that concurrent delivery of VNS during rehabilitative training is most effective and illustrate the importance of considering stimulation timing for clinical implementation of VNS therapy.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Nov 2023
Postoperative neurological symptoms following arthroscopic shoulder surgery with interscalene block: an exploratory secondary analysis of pooled randomized controlled trial data.
Postoperative neurological symptoms (PONS) are recognized complications of regional anesthesia and orthopedic surgery. We aimed to better characterize prevalence and potential risk factors in a homogeneous population of randomized, controlled trial participants. ⋯ PONS are common after arthroscopic shoulder surgery performed with single injection ultrasound-guided interscalene blocks. No definitive mitigating risk factors were identified.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Oct 2023
Accuracy of injection pressure measurement at peripheral nerves using high-resolution 40 MHz ultrasound in an anesthetized porcine model.
Fluid injection pressure measurement is promoted as a marker of needle tip position that discriminates between tissue layers. However, clinical ultrasound has insufficient resolution to identify the exact position of the needle tip. Our primary objective was to use 40 MHz ultrasound in anesthetized pigs in order to precisely locate the tip of the needle and measure opening injection pressure in muscle, at epineurium and in subepineurium. ⋯ Needle tip position was not discernible using pressure monitoring. The circumneurium and subcircumneural injection compartment were observed but not intrafascicular injection.