Motor Recovery After Delayed Nerve Suture

Abstract

The degree of skeletal muscle recovery and the restitution of motor function which can be achieved by nerve suture decreases with increasingly late nerve repair. Early repair leads to a qualitatively good recovery, whereas very late repair is regularly followed by no or only minor recovery. The best achievable function therefore decreases with an increase in the delay of nerve suture. This knowledge is based on clinical and experimental evidence. Morphological structures responsible for a gradual decline in the quality of motor recovery can be the anterior horn cells within the spinal cord, the peripheral nerve fibers, the motor endplates or the muscle cells themselves.