When peripheral nerves are severed, the loss of function leads to atrophy of the effected muscles, a dramatic change in quality of life and, in many cases, a shorter life expectancy.
Despite decades of research, nobody has come up with an effective way to reconnect nerves that have been severed. Various techniques exist to sew the ends back together or to graft nerves into the gap that is created between severed ends.
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Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1404.5931 : Liquid Metal as Connecting or Functional Recovery Channel for the Transected Sciatic Nerve
Biomedical engineers suture severed nerves using liquid metal to enable functionality
