Grants Funded
Grant applicants for the 2024 cycle requested a total of nearly $3 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated more than 100 grant applications on the following topics:
The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $650,000 dollars to support more than 20 plastic surgery research proposals.
ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.
Research Abstracts
Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.
Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces for the Treatment of Painful Neuromas
Stephen Kemp PhD
2017
University of Michigan, Section of Plastic Surgery
ASPN/PSF Research Grant
Peripheral Nerve
More than 185,000 people undergo amputations in the US alone each year, and the total number of amputees is expected to be nearly 3.6 million people by 2050. Almost one-third of these individuals will form painful neuromas as a result of nerve injury that occurs at the time of amputation. This pain can be extremely debilitating, and can lead to disability and poor quality of life. Once a neuroma is symptomatic, surgical intervention is performed. Because the distal nerve end is not present in amputees, nerve grafting is not possible. Over 100 surgical techniques have been directed at the treatment and prevention of terminal neuromas, however none have been completely effective.
The Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interface (RPNI) is a novel treatment strategy for the alleviation of pain associated with neuroma following amputation. Once the neuroma has been excised, the RPNI consists of surgically implanting the nerve into a free skeletal muscle graft. Axons from the nerve readily innervate the muscle graft, greatly reducing neuroma recurrence. Although preclinical work in our lab has focused on RPNI characterization, we have not evaluated the use of RPNIs as a treatment strategy to alleviate chronic pain following nerve injury. We seek to assess the viability of RPNIs as a novel treatment strategy to improve pain outcomes following neuroma excision.
This proposal will determine if RPNI surgery will: a) promote electrophysiological recovery through EMG, and the orderly distribution of novel neuromuscular junctions within the RPNI, and; b) decrease pain hypersensitivity, as evaluated by a battery of qualified pain tests. Aim 1 will determine the effect of RPNI surgery to treat painful neuromas in a terminal neuroma model in rats. Neuromas will be excised, and RPNIs will be surgically implanted in motor, sensory, and mixed nerve injury models. EMG will be evaluated at study endpoints. Histological evaluation of regeneration in the RPNI will be performed via immuno-enabled three-dimensional imaging of solvent-cleared organs (iDISCO), and will analyze the distribution of nerve fibers and new neuromuscular junctions formed. Aim 2 will serially evaluate behavioral analysis at both baseline neuroma conditions and following RPNI treatment. A battery of qualified rodent pain tests will be evaluated including the von Frey test, Hargreaves test, and cold sensation test. These assessments will determine whether rpni surgical treatment decreases pain hypersensitivity.
