The following video demonstrates the resection and interposition grafting for a facial neuroma patient. The patient presented with a near complete facial nerve paralysis with normal hearing. The middle cranial fossa approach was utilized to preserve the hearing and balance function. A graft taken from the sural nerve was inserted into the gap created from the tumor and sewn to unaffected nerve endings. The patient also underwent supplementarly facial nerve reaninmation procedures including an eyelid weight and a minimally invasive orthodromic temporalis tendon transfer so that the facial paralysis could be reanimated immediately. The nerve grafting takes up to a year depending on the length of the graft therefore, the temporalis muscle transfer is added to provide immediate and sustained effects while the graft adds additional benefits ultimately enhancing the final cosmetic and functional outcome.
Please click on the blue link “minimally invasive orthodromic temporals tendon transfer” above for Dr. Fishman’s peer reviewed publication detailing the procedure and demonstrating the final outcomes.