A Case of Facial-Hypoglossal Anastomosis.

Lee, Ki Chan; Chu, Jeong Wah; Jun, Dong Whee; Ro, Soon Sung

Original Article

Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 1976;5(2): 289-292.

Ki Chan Lee, Jeong Wah Chu, Dong Whee Jun, Soon Sung Ro

Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.

ABSTRACT

Surgery of the facial nerve may be required for the restoration of function when the nerve is paralyzed from trauma or disease and to reduce or abolish function when the muscle it supplies are involved in severe spasm. A case of facial-hypoglossal anastomosis is reported, in which intracranial injury and destruction of the left facial nerve were resulted from the operation with complete removal of a large acoustic neurinoma in the cerebellopontine angle. The anastomosis was required for innervation of the paralyzed facial musculature following the operation. The anastomosis is preferred to the accessory-facial combination because of the extensive muscular atrophy of the upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscle. Using operating microscpe, the proximal hypoglossal nerve was approximated to the distal facial nerve below the posterior belly of the digastric muscle, and the descendens hypoglossal was anastomosed to the distal hypoglossal nerve to prevent some of the glossal hemiatrophy.