A case report has described a new protocol for imaging the regeneration of a peripheral nerve. A 25-year-old patient underwent graft surgery after lacerating his peroneal nerve. At 1 month and 13 months after surgery, diffusion-tensor imaging and tractography of the leg clearly revealed axons growing past the original graft and restoring the peroneal nerve fibre. This approach might help identify surgical candidates, and could facilitate postsurgical monitoring.
References
Simon, N. G. et al. Visualizing axon regeneration after peripheral nerve injury with magnetic resonance tractography. Neurology 10.1212/WNL.0000000000000861
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Tractography can measure axon growth after graft surgery. Nat Rev Neurol 10, 547 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.172
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.172