[Repair of the extracranial facial nerve defect by autogenous vein graft: an experimental study].

In this study, we repaired the extracranial facial nerve defect of rabbit using an autogenous vein graft and compared the results with conventional autogenous nerve graft in function and morphology. A 1 cm segment of the extracranial morphology. A 1 cm segment of the extracranial facial nerve was removed in 30 rabbits, the defect was repaired by a segment of vein or by a segment of nerve or without repair. The gross observation, histologic and histochemical examination, electrophysiological study and nerve fascicle graphics analysis were performed at 4, 8, 12, 20 weeks. The results of this study demonstrated that an autogenous vein as a non-nervous tissue graft can repair the extracranial facial nerve defect. 20 weeks after operation, the results with vein graft were superior to nerve graft.