Hemihypoglossal nerve transfer for acute facial paralysis.

Object: The authors have developed a technique for the treatment of facial paralysis that utilizes anastomosis of the split hypoglossal and facial nerve. Here, they document improvements in the procedure and experimental evidence supporting the approach.

Methods: They analyzed outcomes in 36 patients who underwent the procedure, all of whom had suffered from facial paralysis following the removal of large vestibular schwannomas.

A New Surgical Technique for Polysyndactyly of the Toes without Skin Graft.

Reconstruction for polysyndactyly of the toes aims at cosmetic improvement. A previous method that uses a skin graft has inherent disadvantages of mismatched pigmentation between the graft and the surrounding skin and scar formation at the donor site. The authors' new improved surgical technique for the treatment of polysyndactyly of the toes does not require a skin graft and therefore avoids these problems.

Collateral sprouting occurs following end-to-side neurorrhaphy.

Recent evidence supports the use of end-to-side neurorrhaphy for the treatment of certain peripheral nerve disorders. However, the mechanism by which nerves regenerate following this procedure is still unclear. To address this question, the authors designed a new end-to-side coaptation model in rats in which the donor nerves were uninjured.