Brachial plexus trauma: contralateral C7 transfer evaluation

Abstract

Background and aim Root avulsion injury of brachial plexus is a serious injury. Many attempts have been made regarding contralateral transfer of C7 to restore hand function. We designed this work to evaluate efficacy of contralateral C7 (CC7) transfer in the management of avulsion root injury. Patients and methods Between 2015 and 2018, 11 patients with avulsion root injury were enrolled in the study. All of them were males. After the procedure, those patients were followed for at least 2 years to assess the effect of transfer on healthy limb function, sensory and motor recovery of the recipient nerves in the affected limb, and coordination between the healthy and affected limbs. Results It was noticed that three patients had finger and wrist flexion grade 3, whereas seven patients had flexion grade 2 and only one patient demonstrated grade 0. According to hand sensation recovery, nine patients of the group showed S2 recovery and two patients showed S1. All 11 patients included in this study have achieved good results by Elbow Mayo score system, in spite of only three patients achieving satisfactory result by Gilbert shoulder system score and eight patients had fair results. Conclusion Transfer of CC7 (total CC7 transfer) with direct repair for reconstructing limb function was? significantly better than CC7 transfer with graft.