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CompletedNCT03162393Updated May 22, 2017

The Surgical Treatment of Total Brachial Plexus Avulsion Injury-A Retrospective Study of 73 Patients

An observational study in Brachial Plexus Injury, sponsored by Huashan Hospital. Completed. Open to participants aged 12 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-05-22.

Sponsored by Huashan Hospital · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Case-only
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
73
Ages
12 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) caused by traction injury, especially total root avulsion, represents a severe handicap for the patient. Despite recent progress in diagnosis and microsurgical repair, the prognosis in such cases remains unfavorable. We need to find an relatively optimal surgical treatment.

Read the detailed description

Brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) caused by traction injury, especially total root avulsion, represents a severe handicap for the patient. Despite recent progress in diagnosis and microsurgical repair, the prognosis in such cases remains unfavorable. Nerve transfer is the most successful method for repairing cases of brachial plexus root avulsion. Phrenic nerve transfer, accessory nerve transfer, intercostal nerve transfer and contralateral C7 transfer are all well-established technique in the treatment of certain severe brachial plexus lesions in adults. As reported in previous articles, shoulder function, elbow flexion, elbow extension, and wrist and finger function have been restored successfully by spinal accessory, phrenic, intercostal, and contralateral C7 nerve transfers . However, the results of just one function reconstruction were evaluated in those articles. Few studies were found that focused on the whole function reconstructions of the affected limb. In different medical organizations even in our department, many different surgical strategies were used in treating total BPAI patients and the results differed significantly. Here, we investigated the results of different commonly used nerve transfer in order to determine a relatively optimal surgical strategy for treatment of total BPAI patients.

02

Conditions studied

  • Brachial Plexus Injury

Keywords

  • brachial plexus; avulsion injury
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
12 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Between 1999 and 2006, a total of approximately 200 patients with posttraumatic total BPAI underwent surgical exploration and reconstruction of the brachial plexus and 109 agreed to participate in our study. Seventy-three patients were enrolled and 36 were excluded.

Inclusion criteria

  • global root avulsion brachial plexus injury, a minimum postoperative interval of 3 years, all operations performed by the same medical team, nerve transfer was the only reconstruction method.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • diabetes, Volkmann contracture, fracture on the affected limb, rib fracture, brain trauma.
04

Study design

Observational model
Case-only
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
73 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • group 1

    phrenic nerve transfer to musculocutaneous nerve; spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to triceps branch, radial nerve and axillary nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve

    Procedure: nerve transfer

  • group 2

    phrenic nerve transfer to musculocutaneous nerve; spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to triceps branch and radial nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve

    Procedure: nerve transfer

  • group 3

    spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to triceps branch, radial nerve and axillary nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve and musculocutaneous nerve

    Procedure: nerve transfer

  • group 4

    spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to triceps branch and radial nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve and musculocutaneous nerve

    Procedure: nerve transfer

  • group 5

    spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to musculocutaneous nerve, radial nerve and axillary nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve and triceps branch

    Procedure: nerve transfer

  • group 6

    spinal accessory transfer to suprascapular nerve; intercostal nerve transfer to musculocutaneous nerve and radial nerve; contralateral C7 nerve transfer to median nerve and triceps branch

    Procedure: nerve transfer

Interventions

  • Procedurenerve transfer
05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. physical examination

    the motor and sensory function recovery of the recipient nerves

    Time frame: at least 3 years post-operative

06

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

07

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03162393
Lead sponsor
Huashan Hospital
Responsible party
Kaiming Gao (Doctor, Huashan Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 22, 2017
Start date
Jan 1, 2016
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2016
Completion
Dec 31, 2016
Last update
May 22, 2017

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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