Surgical Treatment of Brachial Plexus Injury

In recent years, brachial plexus injury has been attracting increasing attention, partly because of an increasing incidence arising out of higher survival rates for patients after polytrauma. Brachial plexus injury is one of the hardest and most mutilating injuries. Owing to advances in microsurgical techniques, we can achieve success in restoring motor function for these patients. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader with various microsurgical techniques, including nerve fascicle transfers and end-to-side neurorrhaphy (ETSN), which can be used for brachial plexus reconstruction based on personal experience with 1130 nerve reconstructions performed by the first author (PH) between 1993 and 2017. Another goal of brachial plexus surgery is the resolution of severe intractable pain which can develop in up to 20% of cases. Dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) thermocoagulation is a very effective method for treatment of severe neuropathic pain

Obstetric brachial plexus palsy

Obstetrical brachial plexus palsy (OBPP) displays a stable incidence of 0.15 - 3 per 1,000 live births. Most children show good spontaneous recovery, but a recent literature reviews show that a residual deficit remains in 20% to 30% of children. Shoulder dystocia, macrosomia and instrument delivery, forceps or vacuum extraction present the greatest risk for brachial plexus injury. Caesarean section, having a twin or multiple birth mates seems to offer some protection against injury. The resulting nerve injury may vary from neurapraxia or axonotmesis to neurotmesis and root avulsion from spinal cord. In neurapraxia or axonotmetic lesions complete recovery will usually occur over the course of weeks or months. In a neurotmetic injury or in case of root avulsion, the most sever type of lesion, useful regeneration of axons cannot take place. Although we perform electromyography and imaging studies, the final decision of operation relies heavily on the clinical examination. Manual muscle testing system although reliable for examination of motor power in adults is not suited for use with infants. All patients involved in the study were evaluated using the Active Movement Scale (AMS), which greatly increases the ability to detect partial movements. The results of neurophysiological investigations in older...SOUHRN Porodní paréza brachiálního plexu se vyskytuje v 0,15 až 3 případech na 1000 živě narozených dětí. Hybnost horní končetiny se u většiny dětí spontánně upraví, ale u 20 - 30% dětí zůstává těžký reziduální deficit. Dystokie ramének, makrosomie a instrumentální porod představují největší rizika vzniku poranění, naopak porod Císařským řezem a porod dvojčat se zdá být protektivní. Výsledné poranění může být v rozsahu neurapraxie nebo axonotmese, které se spontánně upraví, nebo neurotmese či avulze kořene, kde spontánní reinervace není možná. Klinická manifestace těchto poranění je v počáteční fázi stejná a znesnadňuje tak jejich rozlišení. V současné době není k dispozici žádný klinický nebo elektrofyziologický test či zobrazovací metoda, která by dokázala v raném věku tyto stupně poranění nervu odlišit. Základem správné indikace a konečného rozhodnutí o operaci je klinické vyšetření. To je na rozdíl od dospělých pacientů u nespolupracujícího dítěte obtížné a hodnocení hybnosti a svalové síly je pomocí běžně používaných stupnic nevhodné. Jako nejužitečnější se zdá být škála AMS, které je schopná jednoduchým sledováním dítěte rozlišit i malé změny v pohybu. Elektrofyziologické vyšetření používané u poúrazových stavů dospělých k objektivizaci stupně poškození nervu je u dětských pacientů s unikátní...Department of Neurosurgery 3FM CU and UHKVNeurochirurgická klinika 3. LF UK a FNKV3. lékařská fakultaThird Faculty of Medicin

Obstetric brachial plexus palsy

Obstetrical brachial plexus palsy (OBPP) displays a stable incidence of 0.15 - 3 per 1,000 live births. Most children show good spontaneous recovery, but a recent literature reviews show that a residual deficit remains in 20% to 30% of children. Shoulder dystocia, macrosomia and instrument delivery, forceps or vacuum extraction present the greatest risk for brachial plexus injury. Caesarean section, having a twin or multiple birth mates seems to offer some protection against injury. The resulting nerve injury may vary from neurapraxia or axonotmesis to neurotmesis and root avulsion from spinal cord. In neurapraxia or axonotmetic lesions complete recovery will usually occur over the course of weeks or months. In a neurotmetic injury or in case of root avulsion, the most sever type of lesion, useful regeneration of axons cannot take place. Although we perform electromyography and imaging studies, the final decision of operation relies heavily on the clinical examination. Manual muscle testing system although reliable for examination of motor power in adults is not suited for use with infants. All patients involved in the study were evaluated using the Active Movement Scale (AMS), which greatly increases the ability to detect partial movements. The results of neurophysiological investigations in older..

Obstetric brachial plexus palsy

Obstetrical brachial plexus palsy (OBPP) displays a stable incidence of 0.15 - 3 per 1,000 live births. Most children show good spontaneous recovery, but a recent literature reviews show that a residual deficit remains in 20% to 30% of children. Shoulder dystocia, macrosomia and instrument delivery, forceps or vacuum extraction present the greatest risk for brachial plexus injury. Caesarean section, having a twin or multiple birth mates seems to offer some protection against injury. The resulting nerve injury may vary from neurapraxia or axonotmesis to neurotmesis and root avulsion from spinal cord. In neurapraxia or axonotmetic lesions complete recovery will usually occur over the course of weeks or months. In a neurotmetic injury or in case of root avulsion, the most sever type of lesion, useful regeneration of axons cannot take place. Although we perform electromyography and imaging studies, the final decision of operation relies heavily on the clinical examination. Manual muscle testing system although reliable for examination of motor power in adults is not suited for use with infants. All patients involved in the study were evaluated using the Active Movement Scale (AMS), which greatly increases the ability to detect partial movements. The results of neurophysiological investigations in older..

Safety and Outcome of Revascularization Treatment in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke and COVID-19: The Global COVID-19 Stroke Registry.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES COVID-19 related inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and coagulopathy may increase the bleeding risk and lower efficacy of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to evaluate the safety and outcomes of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke and COVID-19. METHODS Retrospective multicenter cohort study of consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and/or endovascular treatment (EVT) between March 2020 and June 2021, tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection. With a doubly-robust model combining propensity score weighting and multivariate regression, we studied the association of COVID-19 with intracranial bleeding complications and clinical outcomes. Subgroup analyses were performed according to treatment groups (IVT-only and EVT). RESULTS Of a total of 15128 included patients from 105 centers, 853 (5.6%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. 5848 (38.7%) patients received IVT-only, and 9280 (61.3%) EVT (with or without IVT). Patients with COVID-19 had a higher rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.53; 95% CI 1.16-2.01), symptomatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SSAH) (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.20-2.69), SICH and/or SSAH combined (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.23-1.99), 24-hour (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.58-3.86) and 3-month mortality (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.52-2.33).COVID-19 patients also had an unfavorable shift in the distribution of the modified Rankin score at 3 months (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.26-1.60). DISCUSSION Patients with acute ischemic stroke and COVID-19 showed higher rates of intracranial bleeding complications and worse clinical outcomes after revascularization treatments than contemporaneous non-COVID-19 treated patients. Current available data does not allow direct conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of revascularization treatments in COVID-19 patients, or to establish different treatment recommendations in this subgroup of patients with ischemic stroke. Our findings can be taken into consideration for treatment decisions, patient monitoring and establishing prognosis

Safety and Outcome of Revascularization Treatment in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke and COVID-19: The Global COVID-19 Stroke Registry

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: COVID-19 related inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and coagulopathy may increase the bleeding risk and lower efficacy of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to evaluate the safety and outcomes of revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke and COVID-19. METHODS: Retrospective multicenter cohort study of consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and/or endovascular treatment (EVT) between March 2020 and June 2021, tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection. With a doubly-robust model combining propensity score weighting and multivariate regression, we studied the association of COVID-19 with intracranial bleeding complications and clinical outcomes. Subgroup analyses were performed according to treatment groups (IVT-only and EVT). RESULTS: Of a total of 15128 included patients from 105 centers, 853 (5.6%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. 5848 (38.7%) patients received IVT-only, and 9280 (61.3%) EVT (with or without IVT). Patients with COVID-19 had a higher rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.53; 95% CI 1.16-2.01), symptomatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SSAH) (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.20-2.69), SICH and/or SSAH combined (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.23-1.99), 24-hour (OR 2.47; 95% CI 1.58-3.86) and 3-month mortality (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.52-2.33).COVID-19 patients also had an unfavorable shift in the distribution of the modified Rankin score at 3 months (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.26-1.60). DISCUSSION: Patients with acute ischemic stroke and COVID-19 showed higher rates of intracranial bleeding complications and worse clinical outcomes after revascularization treatments than contemporaneous non-COVID-19 treated patients. Current available data does not allow direct conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of revascularization treatments in COVID-19 patients, or to establish different treatment recommendations in this subgroup of patients with ischemic stroke. Our findings can be taken into consideration for treatment decisions, patient monitoring and establishing prognosis