Effects of neurolysis during nerve regeneration: a behavioral and electrophysiologic study

In closed injuries, nerves may be damaged by compression, stretch, or friction; the lesion may be circumscribed or extensive. Indications for exploratory surgery are very difficult to establish. However, in a number of cases, no lesions are observed during surgery and only neurolysis is performed. Neurolysis, nevertheless, may devascularize the nerves, compromising the final outcome of nerve regeneration. The goal of this reported work was to study the effects of neurolysis during the process of regeneration. Experiments were performed in the rat median nerve, and assessment was made by behavioral and electrophysiologic studies 2, 3, 6 and 12 weeks after surgery. The experiments demonstrated that exploratory microneurolysis had no deleterious effect on nerve recovery when performed during the process of nerve regeneration. Indeed, microneurolysis accelerated the rate of nerve recovery. Early exploratory surgery thus had no deleterious effects on nerve regeneration, and not only offered a better prognosis in reparable lesions, but also a potential beneficial effect of neurolysis in accelerating recovery.