From Bench to Bedside: No Need to be Nervous About Microsuturing?

Excerpt

Peripheral nerve injuries, whether sustained through avulsive neurotmesis, sharp or projectile penetrating mechanisms, or iatrogenic injury, can be devastating. Ignoring for a moment the miraculous physiologic complexities of our muscular and skeletal symptoms, individual muscles and bones are, quite frankly, “dumb,” providing a specific and limited set of mechanical functions. Peripheral nerves, on the other hand, are dizzyingly complex—carrying critical afferent and efferent information along a living system of electrical circuits that we take for granted during any activity we do, and even during our periods of inactivity. Despite the perceived predilection to injury, our nerves are quite robust—the majority of nerve tissue being biological insulation in the form of myelin sheaths and vascularized connective tissue that supports and nourishes our nerves, allowing them to glide within our limbs so that we don’t cause a nerve palsy during strenuous or contorted activities. …