Traumatic Deltoid Paralysis Treated by Muscle Transplantation

Flaccid paralysis of the deltoid muscle may result from poliomyelitis, obstetric paralysis or traumatic injury of the circumflex (axillary) nerve. Various operative procedures have been proposed to relieve this severe lesion. Of these the transplantation of the origin of the short head of the biceps from the coracoid process, and the origin of the long head of the triceps from the inferior margin of the glenoid cavity, to the tip of the acromion, as proposed by Dr. Frank Ober,¹has been the most successful. The operation was first used to relieve deltoid paralysis resulting from infantile paralysis, but Dr. Ober has since extended its use to those cases resulting from obstetric paralysis. This report is to present a case of deltoid paralysis, caused by a traumatic lesion of the circumflex nerve, in which this operation was successfully used. ANATOMY The circumflex nerve arises from the