Surgical treatment of brachial plexus posterior cord lesion: A combination of nerve and tendon transfers, about nine patients

Abstract

Lesions of the posterior cord of the brachial plexus are rare. The symptoms are usually described as palsy of the deltoid and triceps brachii muscles and of the extensor muscles of the wrist, thumb and fingers. If there is no recovery, our strategy is to operate on these patients 6months after the injury using a combination of nerve and tendon transfers. We present a series of nine patients, two with a partial palsy and seven with a complete palsy of the posterior cord. We performed five nerve transfers to the axillary nerve, four using intercostal nerves and one using the ulnar nerve. Six patients benefited from a transfer to one of the nerves to the triceps brachii (medial or lateral head), five using the ulnar nerve and one using two intercostal nerves. We performed eight tendon transfers for radial palsy. The results demonstrated significant restoration of the deltoid muscle (grade 4 strength, mean active abduction of 120°). Active elbow extension was restored in all patients with an average strength measured at 5.6kg and 48% of the contralateral strength. All tendon transfers were successful with recovery of active wrist extension (40°), long fingers extension and thumb abduction and extension (12.5cm between the tips of index and thumb). With this method, we were able to restore function to the upper limb of patients who presented with debilitating palsy of the posterior cord of the brachial plexus.