Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Yoonsu Choi

Second Advisor

Dr. Heinrich D. Foltz

Third Advisor

Dr. Jun Peng

Abstract

Damage to the peripheral nervous system may result in functional abnormalities due to disrupted nerve connections. Existing methods of repairing severed nerve connections in the peripheral nervous system have limitations and disadvantages such as a limited availability of donor nerves and a lack of control of the direction of nerve regeneration within nerve conduits. A handcrafted multi-branch microchannel scaffold improves upon the current methods of nerve repair by incorporating microchannels, which guide and accommodate the nerve regeneration to distal ends, allowing for the treatment of nerve injuries involving multiple branches with fewer surgeries. This scaffold is also made more accessible by being fabricated with commercially available materials, microwires, silastic tubes and PDMS. Moreover, the designs of the multi-branch scaffold can be modified for any branching nerve using the procedure. The scaffold used in the study was designed specifically for the sciatic nerve, which branches out to the tibial, sural, and common peroneal serves, and was implanted in the Lewis rats with a severed sciatic nerve and three distal nerve branches to demonstrate the effectiveness of the nerve scaffold.

Comments

Copyright 2016 Luis Enrique Castañuela Ramon. All Rights Reserved.

https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/repair-severed-nerve-connections-through-multi/docview/1849508412/se-2?accountid=7119

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