Applications Of Medotemporal Fascia And Masseter Fascia In Facial Nerve Exploration And Anastomosis

Objective: To assess the clinical value of medotemporal fascia and masseter fascia in facial nerve exploration and anastomosis, and to advance in the diagnosis and treatment of facial nerve injury.Methods: Twenty three patients with traumatic facial nerve injury (15 male and 8 female; 5 acute injury and 18 old injury ), underwent emergency or selective facial nerve exploration and anastomosis. During operations, to find out the nerve stumps, we tease apart medotemporal fascia and masseter fascia, discern the branches of the facial nerve (zygomatic, buccal and marginal mandibular branches ), and find out the temporal branches which run in the medotemporal fascia. Then the nerve stumps were end-to-end neurorrhaphy or neurotization.Results: (1) The 23 operations in exploring and stitching some stumps of facial nerve have succeeded. (2) When we need to discern the branches in the dissection of the facial nerve, finding out the medotemporal fascia and the masseter fascia are the important operating procedure. This operation method increases the achievement ratio of facial nerve exploration and anastomosis with safety and accuracy.Conclusion:In facial nerve exploration and anastomosis, the medotemporal fascia and the masseter fascia are not only the important protected structure, but also the clear marks in seeking and discriminating the branches of facial nerve. Teasing apart them are favorable for discerning the branches of the facial nerve, finding out the nerve stumps and increasing the achievement ratio.