Prosthetic nerve grafts: a resorbable tube as an alternative to autogenous nerve grafting.

The use of a prosthetic nerve graft, composed of a resorbable polyorthoester tube, as an alternative to free autogenous nerve grafting for the treatment of a gap in a peripheral nerve was studied, with a cat sciatic nerve as the model. The results demonstrate that regeneration will occur through a resorbable tube spanning a 1.5 cm gap and reinnervate end organ muscle. In those muscles showing evidence of reinnervation, nerve regeneration through the tubes as assayed by electrophysiologic examination demonstrated no difference compared with autogenous nerve grafts, with the exception that the initial rate of regeneration was delayed by 4 to 6 weeks.