Device could help facilitate the regeneration of severed nerves

Dr James Phillips of the Open University has developed, patented and tested a suite of tissue engineering technologies that he hopes to package and commercialise for clinical use.

Around 300,000 individuals of working age incur peripheral nerve damage in Europe each year at a cost of several billion euros.

‘Bones, skin and muscles, if you pin them into place and put the right dressing on, they will repair,’ Phillips told The Engineer. ‘Nerve injury is more long term and even if you do get regeneration it’s very rare that full function is ever restored.’

If a cut is only partial or very clean a surgeon can simply rejoin the two ends of a nerve. Sometimes, though, this is not possible — there might be a gap that cannot be stretched or entire section lost — and the surgeon must take a nerve bundle from another part of the body.

This nerve autograft is the ‘gold standard’ procedure, but means further trauma and secondary surgery with loss of function at the donor site.