Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injuries: Epidemiological Study at two Egyptian Centers over 2 Years

Abstract

Background Data: Improving the knowledge about the epidemiology of the traumatic brachial plexus injuries (BPI) helps in providing an appropriate assessment and management of these cases. This issue is important especially in those injuries that have much burden on the individual and national income. Purpose: To evaluate the epidemiological, clinical, and outcome of traumatic brachial plexus injuries in Suez Canal University and Damanhur Medical National Institute Hospitals over 2 years. Study Design: A retrospective descriptive clinical case study. Patients and Methods: Eighteen patients had traumatic brachial plexus injury were operated by our team from January 2014 to December 2015. Data regarding the age, sex, causes of BPI, patterns of injury, surgical approaches, surgical procedures and recovery outcome were collected. Results: All the patients were males with mean age 31 years, 72% encountered road traffic accidents (RTA), and 90% were because of motorbike accidents. 60% showed upper BPI. Neurolysis, nerve grafting and nerve transfer were the surgical procedures that were followed. Functional recovery had been achieved in about 61% of the study population. Conclusion: Our study gives insight into epidemiological aspects of the BPI in Egypt and the role of our new center in the management of those injuries. Taking into consideration the small number of the study population, our results were more or less similar published literatures. (2016ESJ112)

Keywords

• Epidemiological study
• traumatic brachial plexus injuries
• neurolysis
• nerve graft