Nerve Repair Using Hydrophilic Polymers to Promote Immediate Fusion of Severed Axons and Swift Return of Function

For the control groups, epineural repair or interposition grafting will be undertaken in the standard end-to-end fashion using interrupted nylon suture after irrigation of the wound with normal saline as deemed necessary by the operating surgeon. For the experimental group, the nerve(s) will be repaired using standard suture neurorrhaphy techniques and a 149.25 mM (50%) solution of PEG 3.35 kD in sterile water will then be irrigated onto the neurorrhaphy site for one minute. Following this, the approximated nerve ends will be irrigated with sterile water gently for 2 minutes. All wounds will be closed in the fashion deemed appropriate by the operating surgeon.