Objective: To improve lateral thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle atrophy after laryngeal paralysis, reconstruction of the vascular network of the atrophied muscle is necessary. We therefore evaluated whether the controlled release of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) with autologous fascia implantation could affect vascular reconstruction in the lateral TA muscle.
Study design: Animal experiment.
Setting: Laboratory.
Methods: Unilateral laryngeal paralysis was induced in 20 rats. The rats were implanted with autologous fascia and a gelatin hydrogel sheet with or without 1 µg of bFGF (fascia and bFGF + fascia groups; n = 5 each) and with only a gelatin hydrogel sheet with bFGF (bFGF group: n = 5). Another group remained untreated (n = 5) at 4 months after paralysis. At 3 months since transplantation, intra- and intergroup comparisons of the muscle volumes and total area of blood vessels in the lateral TA muscle were performed.
Results: When compared with the untreated group, the bFGF + fascia group showed a significant increase in muscle volume (P =.0008) and vascular area (P =.0002) in the lateral TA muscle, whereas the other 2 treated groups demonstrated an insufficient effect.
Conclusion: bFGF + fascia implantation showed histologic improvement in severe laryngeal paralysis. We demonstrated that the decrease in lateral TA muscle mass after paralysis might be countered by the reconstruction of the vascular network. Our findings indicate that hypovascular and denervated areas of the laryngeal muscle can be regenerated by the implantation of growth factors and scaffolds with surgical stress.
Level of evidence: 5.
Keywords: autologous fascia implantation; bFGF; gelatin hydrogel.