Preservation of the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve using a plexus block nerve stimulator.

ABSTRACT

Preserving the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve is essential in submandibular neck dissection to avert disfiguring complications. Despite the high incidence of postoperative palsy, old-fashioned techniques of nerve identification remain widespread. The use of disposable plexus block nerve stimulators as a safe and accurate method to localize the nerve intraoperatively is suggested herein. Such devices are significantly more affordable and user-friendly than larger facial nerve monitoring devices, which are rather favored for those procedures more extensively jeopardizing the branches of the facial nerve. In this report, disposable stimulators led to successful identification of the nerve in 100% of 25 patients between 2003 and 2005, with no postoperative paralysis. In addition, stimulation devices are constantly gaining in reliability and safety, and the number of surgical fields supporting their use is expanding. Therefore, their routine use for surgery on the submandibular area is recommended by the authors.