Compression stitches on nerve as treatment for blepharospasm. Study with rats.

• Grant number: 23/18271-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Fausto Viterbo de Oliveira Neto
• Grantee: Caio Mendonça Parreiras
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Blepharospasm is a debilitating condition, characterized by involuntary spasms of the periocular muscles. There can be frequent and repetitive blinks or even spasms that last for hours. The condition does not have a well known cause, but there are indications that primary causes of blepharospasm occur due to disturbs in the basal ganglia tracts. It is a type of dystonia, which means it is a neurologic dysfunction of involuntary muscle contraction, for which there is no secure or effective treatment. The current treatments consist in medications, botulinum toxin injection, myectomy of the protactor muscles of the eye or peripheral neurectomy of facial nerve branch. However, the recurrence rate is great, not all patients respond well to these treatments and the adverse effects are multiple. On the other side, there are indications that the technique of applying compression stitches on orbicular branches of the facial nerve can reduce the excitation of periocular muscles innervated by it and, therefore, stop the involuntary contractions of this disease. For this technique to be consolidated, it is important to evaluate the function of a muscle after applying compression stitches on its motor nerve.