Uses in Nerve Repair
Facial nerve paralysis is a difficult situation to fix, but new cranial nerve substitution techniques allow for some usage to be restored, to include hypoglossal-facial anastomosis.
This procedure is considered the standard for reanimating the face when the proximal end of the facial nerve is not available, but the peripheral system is still viable. There are two options:
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- Hypoglossal nerve completely transected and connected to facial nerve.
- Hypoglossal nerve partially transected and connected to facial nerve. This may be accomplished with interposition cable grafts or jump grafts. An advantage of partial transection is minimizing tongue weakness and purported decrease in synkinesis. There are disadvantages though since there are then fewer nerve cells to drive the movement of features in the face.
Read more about this topic: Hypoglossal Nerve
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