Median Nerve to Musculocutaneous Nerve Transfer for Restoring Elbow Flexion in Obstetric Brachial Plexus palsy

Background: Birth injuries to the brachial plexus are highly rare; however, they necessitate treatment and follow-up from infancy until skeletal maturity. Many complications may arise as a result of primary nerve surgery. Objectives: To study the long-term complications of nerve repair procedures in patients with obstetric brachial plexus palsy. Patients and methods: This was retrospective research that was performed on 8 cases having obstetric brachial plexus palsy and underwent nerve surgery procedure. The ages ranged from 3 to 20 months. The assessment of the surgical procedure outcomes involves post-operative evaluation of both short and long-term complication. Results: Our study showed that the most frequent long-term complications were decreased innervation (25%), followed by decreased strength and stamina and balanced discoordination (12.50%) while there were no complications encountered in 50% of cases. The short-term complications included wound infection, seroma and hematoma. Conclusion: The nerve surgery procedure is an efficient primary approach in the management of cases with brachial plexus injury. However, a long-term follow-up is usually associated with late squeal such as reduced innervation and decrease in the overall strength and stamina.