Morphological evaluation of terminal branches of the facial nerve within the parotid gland in fetus cadavers

OpenAlex İngilizce

Purpose: The aim of present study was to describe the branching pattern of the facial nerve according to interconnections between the branches, to examine the number of terminal branches, to determine anatomical variations and to emphasize the importance of these in terms of pediatric parotid surgery.Materials and Methods: Thirty-two parotid regions from eight female and eight male fetus cadavers (gestational ages between 21.0 and 35.5 weeks according to foot lengths) were dissected. The branching pattern of the facial nerve, terminal branch numbers and interconnections between the branches were examined and described. In present study, the facial nerve was classified using Davis et al.’ classification. But, we encountered interconnections between facial nerve branches that were not mentioned previously and the branching patterns formed by these interconnections were named as Type x and Type y.Results: Out of the total 32 cases, 13 (40.63 %) were Type I, 7 (21.88 %) were Type II, 3 (9.38 %) were Type III and 5 (15.63 %) were Type VI. Type IV and Type V were not encountered. Type x were in 2 (6.25 %) cases and Type y were in 2 (6.25 %) cases. The mean total number of nerve terminal branches was 7.90 ± 1.49.Conclusion: Investigation outcomes presented in this study have defined branching pattern and anatomical variations of the facial nerve branches and can be assist with the protection of the nerve during surgical procedures and prevent surgery-associated damage to the nerve, and thus facial paralysis.