Epidemiological Study of Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injuries

Abstract

Objective: To conduct an epidemiological study on brachial plexus injuries, through data collection of patients treated in the Hospital São Paulo, which is the referral center for high complexity in this region. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study with a review of the electronic medical records of the Hospital, from August 2008 to June 2013. Results: We estimated an 1.88/100,000 annual incidence, considering that the Hospital is the only referral center for brachial plexus injuries. The mean time between injury and the first visit to the reference hospital was 8.25 months. The mean time interval between injury and surgery was 11.25 months. The percentage of total injuries was 33%, while the upper and middle trunk injuries were 33% and 28%, respectively. Conclusion: We observed many aspects in common with those reported by other centers of excellence in Brazil such as: sex, age and mechanism of injury. However, some findings were different from most other epidemiological studies, namely: level of injury, time between the accident and the first appointment and the time between injury and surgery. Level of evidence IV, case series.

Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injury in Indonesia: An Experience from a Developing Country

“… 2 10 25 Although the recommendation to undergo surgery within four to five months was reported in several developed countries, it is often not applicable in our patient population. 33 36 37 The differences lie in Indonesia's economic, educational, and geographical conditions. Indonesia's socioeconomic and education system is centered on Java island; thus, there might be a stark discrepancy between the patients who came from outside Java and within Java.…”

“…Our result is similar to several studies. 6,33,34 A meta-analysis study by Kaiser et al also demonstrated that the typical patient suffering from severe BPI with closed supraclavicular injury mostly caused complete BPI and less commonly caused an upper plexus palsy. 6…”

A Decade of Imaging Patients with Traumatic Brachial Plexopathy: What have We Learned?

“…Faglioni et al, in contrast, found more patients with left-sided plexopathy in their study (54.1%) while Cho et al and Jain et al found more patients with right-sided plexopathy, seen in 57% and 60.97% patients, respectively. [9][10][11] Majority of our patients (n ¼ 62, 46.3%) presented for imaging between 1 and 3 months following trauma whereas the least number of patients (n ¼ 8, 6%) were those whose injury was more than a year old. This has a definitive impact on patient management as timely intervention can decrease the degree of functional loss and facilitate early recovery.…”

Manejo de heridas en plexo braquial por proyectil de arma de fuego: revisión sistemática

“…Tanto Baik Cho como Rasulić coincidieron en sus estudios en que las raíces cervicales más afectadas suelen ser C5-C6, con solo una pequeña discrepancia en cuanto a la frecuencia con la que C7 se ve comprometida, puesto que Baik Cho considera que esta vértebra cervical se afecta en igual medida que las raíces cervicales C5-C6. (4,8) Todo esto en contraste a los resultados que arroja la investigación de Halil Ibrahim Secer, quien encontró que la raíz cervical más afectada en este tipo de herida es la C7. (4,9) Por otro lado, también buscamos determinar el porcentaje de recuperación de los pacientes tras ser sometidos a la cirugía.…”