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.

Effect of motor imagery and voluntary muscle contraction on the F wave.

We tested the validity of instructing patients to minimally contract the muscle to facilitate F-wave recording in clinical practice. In 12 healthy subjects, F waves were recorded from the first dorsal interosseous muscle at rest, during motor imagery, and at up to 30% of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). F-wave persistence increased significantly from 32.