Prevalencia, etiología y diagnóstico de las lesiones de plexo. Descripción de una serie hospitalaria durante una década (2008-2018)

Abstract

IntroductionWe analyse the prevalence, aetiology, and diagnosis of cervical-brachial and lumbo-sacral plexopathies at our hospital over a 10-year period. Material and methodsWe conducted an observational, descriptive, retrospective analysis of adult patients diagnosed with plexopathy and attended at our centre's specialist electromyography clinic between February 2008 and December 2018, inclusive. ResultsWe included 77 patients (95.1% of the cases identified), with a mean (standard deviation) age of 55.94 (16.9) years; 49 patients (60.5%) were men. Prevalence amounted to 2.37 cases per 100 000 person-years. Cervical plexopathy was the most frequent type (84% of cases). The most frequent aetiologies were trauma (27 patients; 35%), Parsonage-Turner syndrome (17 patients; 20.9%), neoplasm (12 patients; 14.8%), and idiopathic (11 patients, 13.5%). Of the 12 patients with neoplastic aetiology, neuroimaging only confirmed tumour infiltration in 4 cases (33.3%). Of the 77 patients who underwent neuroimaging studies (CT or MRI), findings were normal in 69 (85.2%; P=.004). The hospital departments most frequently attending these patients were traumatology (36.36%), neurology (11.68%), rehabilitation (10.38%), and oncology (4%). ConclusionsThe prevalence of plexopathies in our health district amounts to 2.37 cases per 100,000 person-years. In our series, the most frequent aetiology in both sexes was trauma, which was associated with younger age (under 55 years), although aetiology was unknown in more than one-third of patients. The cervical-brachial plexus was most frequently affected, and lesions to this region are more easily located with neuroimaging studies.