The effect of irradiation on nerve grafting

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-operative radiotherapy on nerve grafting, using the rat sciatic nerve as an experimental model. Two groups of 10 rats were used, one group irradiated, the other not. In each rat a 5 mm section of one sciatic nerve was excised then replaced and sutured into position. Nerve regeneration was investigated by expressing the area of the mass action potential in the regenerated nerve as a percentage of the mass action potential in the contralateral intact nerve. A significant difference (P less than 0.01) in nerve regeneration was found between the irradiated and non-irradiated animals. In the irradiated group only two animals achieved more than 20% nerve fibre regeneration whilst in the non-irradiated group all but two animals achieved greater than 20% regeneration. These results suggest that pre-operative irradiation has an adverse effect on nerve regeneration.