Assessment of muscle flap sensibility by evoked potentials in the rat

✍ Scribed by Maria Siemionow; Osman Latifoglu; Ferrit Demirkan; Wlodzimierz Siemionow; Graham Lister

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 288 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0738-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2752(2000)20:2<85::aid-micr7>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

This study investigated whether the sensory-to-motor reinervation of the muscle flap provides a better sensory recovery of an overlying skin graft. Fifty-four animals were studied in three groups of 18 rats each: group I (control): 1 cm of the gastrocnemius muscle motor nerve was excised and no repair was performed; group II (motor-to-motor repair): the motor nerve of the gastrocnemius flap was transected and repaired; group III (sensory-to-motor repair): the motor nerve of the gastrocnemius muscle and sural nerve were transected and their distal and proximal ends, respectively, were repaired. At follow-up periods of 6, 12, and 24 weeks, evaluation of hair growth, muscle atrophy, and sensory evoked potentials was performed. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) at 6 weeks in the sensory-to-motor repair (group III) revealed a significant (P < 0. 05) increase (104.4% +/- 22.9) in the relative response of peak-to-peak potentials when compared with group I (46.6% +/- 19) and group II (51.8% +/- 14.0). Muscle flap stimulation was most prominent at 6 weeks in sensory-to-motor reinvervated flaps (group III 133.1% +/- 25.4; group I 84.9% +/- 20.2). In this study, sensory-to-motor nerve repair significantly improved the sensibility of skin flaps at 6 weeks. Denervated flaps presented with 3 months of sensory recovery delay.