Selective Peripheral Denervation and Selective Nerve Injury for the Treatment of Cervical Dystonia Through a Periauricular Incision

This paper describes a new surgical approach to treat cervical dystonia (CD), a condition causing involuntary neck muscle contractions. The traditional approach involves cutting nerves in the back of the neck, but this may not be ideal for all patients. The new approach uses an incision around the ear to access neck muscles from the front and back. This allows surgeons to selectively cut or weaken specific nerves causing the dystonia. For muscles that are important for function, like the trapezius, the surgeons used a special technique to partially damage the nerves instead of completely cutting them. This weakens the muscle without completely eliminating its function.

• 1
  A periauricular incision provides access to both anterior and posterior neck muscles for selective peripheral denervation.
• 2
  Sunderland third-degree nerve injury can be used to partially denervate nonexpendable muscles, preserving some function.
• 3
  The described approach resulted in an 80% improvement in pain and symptoms in the treated patient at one-month follow-up.