Background:Epidemiological studies on traumatic brachial plexus injuries are few and these studies help us to improve the treatment, rehabilitation of these patients and to allocate the resources required in their management. Epidemiological factors can vary in different countries. We wanted to know the situation in an Indian centre.Materials and Methods:Data regarding age, sex, affected side, mode of injury, distribution of paralysis, associated injuries, pain at the time of presentation and the index procedure they underwent were collected from 304 patients. Additional data like the vehicle associated during the accident, speed of the vehicle during the accident, employment status and integration into the family were collected in 144 patients out of the 304 patients.Results:Road traffic accidents accounted for 94% of patients and of the road traffic accidents 90% involved two wheelers. Brachial plexus injury formed a part of multitrauma in 54% of this study group and 46% had isolated brachial plexus injury. Associated injuries like fractures, vascular injuries and head injuries are much less probably due to the lower velocity of the vehicles compared to the western world. The average time interval from the date of injury to exploration of the brachial plexus was 127 days and 124 (40.78%) patients presented to us within this duration. Fifty-seven per cent had joined back to work by an average of 8.6 months. It took an average of 6.8 months for the global brachial plexus-injured patients to write in their non-dominant hand.

Background:The loss of elbow flexion is a routinely encountered problem in clinical practice. There is no literature on ulnar nerve innervation to triceps in addition to the radial nerve which is dual nerve innervation to triceps in the Indian population. We intend to study the incidence of ulnar nerve innervation to the medial head of triceps in Indian population and also the clinical feasibility of transfer of long and medial head of triceps tendon to biceps around the medial aspect of humerus.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted using 32 fresh-frozen skeletally mature cadavers of Indian origin. The possible contribution of the ulnar nerve to medial head of triceps in addition to the radial nerve was recorded. The arm length, the distance where the ulnar nerve pierces the medial intermuscular septum from medial epicondyle; the distance of the ulnar nerve fascicle from the medial epicondyle was also measured.Results:The incidence of ulnar nerve innervation to the medial head of triceps was 43.8%. Mean arm length was 29.13 cm. Mean distance where the ulnar nerve pierced the medial intermuscular septum from medial epicondyle was 9.93 cm. Mean distance of the ulnar nerve branch to the triceps from medial epicondyle was 8.01 cm.Conclusion:This study reveals the presence of dual nerve innervation to triceps in 43.8% of the Indian population. The clinical implication would be to look for the possible contribution of the ulnar nerve fascicle to the medial head of triceps, which will help us to include the medial head along with the long head of triceps while performing partial triceps-to-biceps tendon transfer, and the other use would be as a donor fascicle when performing a nerve transfer.

The aesthetic appearance of the thumb hasn't been analysed to a similar extent as thumb function which would aid during reconstructive surgeries of the thumb and first web space and analyse its outcome. The purpose of this study is to determine the relative length, girth, nail width of thumb with respect to the index finger and intermetacarpal distance. Measurement of the 1 st web space arc radius has been done to tackle the problem of webbing which is not addressed by IMD and palmar abduction angles. A total of 482 hands in 241 subjects were studied to measure the relative length of the thumb with respect to the index finger, the relative nail width of thumb with respect to index finger, the relative girth of IP joint of thumb with respect to PIP joint of index finger and Intermetacarpal distance was calculated. The 1 st web space arc radius was calculated by the "best arc fit" with the thumb in maximum radial abduction using a radius gauge. The data collected was analysed by age, gender, laterality of the hand and the height and weight of the child. Hands of subjects of which with a mean age of years were analysed. The relative Thumb length, girth and nail width remained independent of age. It has been observed that the reliability of the measurements between the right and left web space arc radius measurement is significant . The provided would help reconstructive surgeons analyse aesthetic outcomes of reconstructive surgeries intraoperatively and post operatively. A correlation between the 1 st web space arc radius of right and left hands would help predict the expected post-operative outcome.

A preoperative radiograph of the wrist with hand will help us indirectly assess the axial length of the scaphoid by measuring the axial length of the middle phalanx of ring finger.

The aesthetic appearance of the thumb hasn't been analysed to a similar extent as thumb function which would aid during reconstructive surgeries of the thumb and first web space and analyse its outcome. The purpose of this study is to determine the relative length, girth, nail width of thumb with respect to the index finger and intermetacarpal distance. Measurement of the 1 st web space arc radius has been done to tackle the problem of webbing which is not addressed by IMD and palmar abduction angles. A total of 482 hands in 241 subjects were studied to measure the relative length of the thumb with respect to the index finger, the relative nail width of thumb with respect to index finger, the relative girth of IP joint of thumb with respect to PIP joint of index finger and Intermetacarpal distance was calculated. The 1 st web space arc radius was calculated by the "best arc fit" with the thumb in maximum radial abduction using a radius gauge. The data collected was analysed by age, gender, laterality of the hand and the height and weight of the child. Hands of subjects of which with a mean age of years were analysed. The relative Thumb length, girth and nail width remained independent of age. It has been observed that the reliability of the measurements between the right and left web space arc radius measurement is significant . The provided would help reconstructive surgeons analyse aesthetic outcomes of reconstructive surgeries intraoperatively and post operatively. A correlation between the 1 st web space arc radius of right and left hands would help predict the expected post-operative outcome.