Central and peripheral rearrangements following hypoglossal-facial crossover: an electrophysiological study.

Hypoglossal facial crossover is the most common procedure performed to rehabilitate a paralysed face, when the trunk of the facial nerve is not available for end-to-end anastomosis. This technique always gives at least a symmetrical face at rest. Independent movements allowing smiling and closing of the eye could be the best end result. This present work was performed to study the central and peripheral arrangements, following a hypoglossal-facial crossover. The peripheral changes were studied with classical electromyography. The central changes were studied with the Blink reflex. In this way we demonstrated the presence of central connections between the trigeminal and hypoglossal nuclei.