Intracranial nerve repair: a review of experimental and clinical studies

With recent developments in neurosurgery and related disciplines, more aggressive approaches are being made for various lesions of the skull base, and, as a consequence, cranial nerves are more frequently damaged, which causes significant morbidity. The authors review experimental and clinical studies involving surgical repair of severed cranial nerves and provide evidence that some degree of functional regeneration occurs. Functional recovery after repair is mainly dependent on the preoperative function of the muscle--nerve unit and the morphological organization of the nerve; the more complex the organization, the lesser the degree of functional recovery. The beneficial effect of surgical repair on postoperative morbidity is outlined together with suggestions for future research.