Experimental and clinical study of the effect of naftidrofuryl on the recovery from peripheral nerve lesions

Abstract

After primary repair of lesions of nerves and vessels, patients who were administered a vasoactive drug, naftidrofuryl, postoperatively, had a better functional recovery than untreated patients. Evidence for the favourable effect of the drug on nerve regeneration was first obtained from experiments in the rat. The sciatic nerve was transected and repaired with standard microsurgical techniques. Results were evaluated by electromyography and histology. Data indicated that treated animals had better motor responses and distal latency than untreated rats. Fibre counts showed a greater number of nerve fibres in the distal stump of treated animals. The clinical study was undertaken in cases of carpal tunnel syndrome with muscle atrophy. Assessment was performed by electrophysiology: motor and sensory conduction was studied. Data showed that all treated patients recovered totally or partially from the thenar atrophy they presented before operation, whereas thenar atrophy persisted in 37% of the patients receiving placebo. In conclusion, naftidrofuryl has an experimentally and clinically favourable effect on nerve regeneration and on muscle trophicity, but the mechanism of action of this drug is not known.

Sciatic nerve injury: A simple and subtle model for investigating many aspects of nervous system damage and recovery

“…The SNA has found widespread use not only in neuroscience, but also in endocrine (Pan et al, 2009;Sahenk et al, 2005), immunological (Cullheim and Thams, 2007;Vallejo et al, 2010) and translational (Choi et al, 2012;Eaton et al, 2002;Gu et al, 2005;Kato et al, 2003;Merle et al, 1994;Sahenk et al, 2005;West et al, 2007) research into nerve injury. Much recent work has focused on the role of cytokines (Abbadie et al, 2009;Jeon et al, 2009;Strong et al, 2012) and immune cell infiltration (Moalem and Tracey, 2006 and see Fig.…”

The Thenar Index: An Objective Assessment and Classification of Thenar Atrophy Based on Static Hand Imprints and Clinical Implications

“…14,31 To standardize the visual assessment, some authors have either simplified the classification system (mild to moderate or severe; present or absent) or used the same examiner whenever possible. 8,12,13,[15][16][17][18][19]24,27,[32][33][34][35][36] However, even the latter may introduce a certain level of bias when the success of a treatment modality is being investigated. Furthermore, the evaluation is not sensitive enough to grade a partial improvement in atrophy.…”