Intraoperative Electrical Stimulation to Improve Nerve Grafting Outcome

Overview

A research study to find out if brief intraoperative electrical stimulation therapy improves nerve regeneration and smile outcomes following two-stage cross face nerve graft facial reanimation surgery.

Participants that choose to enroll in this study will be randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to a "treatment" or "control" group. In either group, patients will receive the same care as they normally would except for two minor differences. First, patients in both groups undergo nerve biopsies during surgery; these biopsies do not affect the length or outcome of surgery. Second, the treatment group will receive brief electrical stimulation therapy for approximately 10 minutes during the first stage cross-face nerve graft surgery. The purpose of this study is to evaluate efficacy of an intraoperative dose of brief electrical stimulation (BES) to improve axonal regeneration across a cross-face nerve graft (CFNG) using nerve histology and to evaluate clinical outcomes of treatment and control groups using clinician graded, patient reported, and objective smile metric.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes

Central Contacts