US Food and Drug Administration /Conformit Europe- approved absorbable nerve conduits for clinical repair of peripheral and cranial nerves

• Published in: Annals of plastic surgery Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 466 - 472
• Main Authors: Meek, M F, Coert, J H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-04-2008
• Subjects: Absorbable Implants; Biocompatible Materials; Collagen Type I; Cranial Nerve Injuries - surgery; Cranial Nerves - surgery; Europe; Humans; Nerve Regeneration; Peripheral Nerve Injuries; Peripheral Nerves - surgery; Polyglycolic Acid; Prosthesis Design; Tissue Scaffolds; Trauma, Nervous System - surgery; United States; United States Food and Drug Administration; United States; Europe
• ISSN: 0148-7043
• DOI: 10.1097/SAP.0b013e31804d441c

Several absorbable nerve conduits are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Conformit Europe (CE) for clinical repair of peripheral and cranial nerves . Surgeons are often not aware of the different(bio) materials of these conduits when performing nerve repair. An overview of these FDA- and CE-approved absorbable nerve conduits for clinical use is presented . PubMed, MEDLINE, and the companies selling the conduits were consulted . The available FDA and CE absorbable nerve conduits for peripheral and cranial nerve repair are 2 collagen- and 2 synthetic- polyester based conduits. The available clinical data, the price, the length, and the composition of the tube show significant differences. Based on the available data in this paper at this moment, we favor the PGA (Neurotube) nerve conduit for repair of peripheral and cranial nerve defects because of its advantages in length, price, and availability of clinical data. However, no prospective studies comparing the available nerve conduits have been published.