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Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Facial Nerve Axotomy in Mice: A Model to Study Motoneuron Response to Injury
Published on: February 23, 2015
Finding the Main Trunk of the Facial Nerve: The Fat Lobule
John Maddalozzo1, Kyle J Kozak2, Annie Farrell1
1Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Abstract:
Multiple methods and landmarks for identifying the facial nerve during parotidectomy have been described. This study describes a novel landmark which can be consistently utilized to assist in the identification of the main trunk of the facial nerve during parotidectomy. There lies a discreet fat lobule which sits just lateral to the main trunk of the facial nerve that can be utilized as an additional landmark when performing a primary parotidectomy.
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