Morphometric Study of Hypoglossal and Facial Nerves and its Significance in Hypoglossal-Facial Nerve Anastomosis.

ABSTRACT

Background: During the repairing of facial nerve injurymost common nerve used is the hypoglossal nerve. Aimand Objectives: To measure the distance between theanatomical landmarks, facial nerve and hypoglossalnerve which will be beneficial to locate the facial nerveand hypoglossal nerve more effortlessly and willdecrease the hazard of procedural problems. Materialand Methods: Thirty specimens were dissected.Measurements of the hypoglossal and facial nerveswere taken from various anatomical landmarks. Datawere analyzed using Statistical Package for SocialSciences 16 version. Results: The mean distance of theorigin of the facial nerve to the angle of mandible wascm, the mean distance of the origin of thefacial nerve to the tip of mastoid process wascm, the mean distance of common carotidbifurcation to the hypoglossal nerve where it crossesthe external carotid artery was cm, the meandistance of common carotid bifurcation to thehypoglossal nerve where it crosses the internal carotidartery was cm and the mean distance ofhypoglossal nerve to the tip of mastoid process wascm. Conclusion: The results of this studywill help and prevent any complication in identifyingthe hypoglossal nerve and facial nerve duringhypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis.