An experimental study of using "tendon bridge" or "tendon tunnel" as a conduit for nerve regeneration.

In our experiments, a "tendon bridge" or a "tendon tunnel" was used as a conduit to repair the defect of a peripheral nerve in rabbits. A gap of about 1 cm was made on the deep peroneal nerve in each animal. In group 1, the tendon of anterior tibial muscle was isolated near the severed nerve, and a segment of half cross section of tendon was removed in ladder-shaped reversed fashion. The proximal and distal nerve stump were sutured respectively to the tendon by 11/0 atraumatic sutures under surgical microscope. In group 2, the nerve stumps were sutured to the tendon of anterior tibial muscle without cutting the tendon, but the tendon was dissected free and turned to form a tunnel wrapping the gap in between the nerve stumps. The results showed that a gap of 1 cm of the deep peroneal nerve might be repaired by both methods, but the results of using "tendon tunnel" in group 2 were much better than those of using "tendon bridge" in group 1.