[An experimental study of compound implants made of vein and nerve for repairing peripheral nerve gaps]

The effect of peripheral nerve regeneration in bridging short gaps of peripheral nerve with non-neural material is reliable, but rather disappointed in long gaps. In this study, we bridged a 3.0 cm long peroneal nerve defect in rabbits only with an autogenous vein. no nerve regeneration was found 22 weeks after operation. In the experimental group, we divided the vein into two parts, and a 0.3 cm long free nerve segment was sutured between them, which was then used to bridge a peroneal nerve gap with the same length as above definite nerve regeneration was demonstrated by electrophysiological, histological examination and HRP tracing. Therefore, the effect was improved significantly with the addition of a nerve segment to the vein implant. Possible reasons for the positive effects of isolated nerve segment in bridging nerve gaps are discussed.