C-7 Surgery

[Kianas Dad]

My daughter Kiana just had exploratory surgery last week performed by Dr Nath. He found that all nerves from C-5 ->T1 were avulsed or damaged. One of the procedures that we are going to do as part of her arm reconstruction is the C-7 surgery from her good arm. I know it is still not as common as other procedures and I was curious if anyone on here has had it done and had any feedback about the procedure. From what we were told there are no cases where damage was done to the good arm, and it is pretty much the only hope we have for some sort of hand function.

Thanks for the help,

Roger

[EllenB]

Mayo Clinic did that procedure for my son four years ago and it went fine. He had a little weakness with the muscle associated with that nerve in his good arm for around a year but after that was 100%. It took a little while for his brain to retrain and do the swap of "think right, move left".

How many of these has Dr. Nath done? I guess I haven't read a lot of cases on this board where he's done it but I expect it's more universally done by now.

Take care,

Ellen

[tk]

Hello, My three year old son just had surgery, three weeks ago. All of his nerves C3 to T1 are avulsed. there may be a thread around C8 or T1 as he has some involuntary movement in three fingers. Anyways he had the C7 contralateral nerve transfer from the left side to the right side. He has had no damage thank god to his good arm. they transfered the C7 to his deltoid muscle and then took part of the shoulder shrugging nerve on the right side and grafted that down to his tricep muscle, this will hopefully get back some function in his shoulder and elbow. TK

[spinkydee]

Dr. Nath did surgery on my son almost a year ago. Did the same procedure with no apparent damage to his left (non-injured) arm. Dr. Nath is very experienced in doing brachial plexus surgeries and has always been responsive to any questions I have had. He is an amazing person! Michele

[Brandon_3]

I am curious too! is 18-20 months post injury to late? I don't think that atrophy is that much of an issue right now????
Sincerely
Brandon TRBPI

[tk]

I think each surgery varies, Masen has some involuntary movement in three of his fingers, Dr. Chin said today that if he gets anything back it would be in his thumb and ring, pinkie finger, but very slight, that doesn't explain his movement in the pointer and middle finger, so far no movement in the pinkie finger and we just started seeing movement in his thumb. Masen will go back to Mayo in 4 to 6 mo. for an EMG and to see the surgeons again. Masens incisions are looking good.

TK

[MicheleDBeal]

Priscilla,

We (my son, husband and I) are just looking into surgery for our son who was in an automobile accident on 12-27-06. His DX brachial plexus, he is fortunate enough to have movement in his shoulder and elbow but not the hand. He does have sensation but no movement in the fingers. We are meeting with Dr. Elkwood on 2-14-07 he is the closest specialist in our area and we are looking forward to some options. This is a completely new area to us and any information you can provide would be wonderful.,
Thank You,
The Beal Family

[tk]

Michelle, I will definitely keep updating. We are very lucky to have Masen, People are now saying how when they first saw Masen they didn't think he was going to make it, this website has been a wonderful thing for me, it gave me lots of questions to ask the doctors about and it helps to read about other people and what they have gone through or are currently going through. Masen is a strong little boy. I hope that he will heal faster than the doctors expect since he has healed so well in the last six months from his accident. Sincerely TK

[Kianas Dad]

For those that did the c-7 surgery, did they use the entire nerve, or part of it? This is the scariest part for me, is taking anything from her good arm. did you experience any weakness or numbness after the procedure? and where did they run it to?

At this point for Kiki they are looking at 2 options; connecting the c-7 to her medial nerve for hand function or to the axillary nerve for shoulder. right now there is nothing out of all 5 nerves on her paralyzed arm. Any opinions?

[Christopher]

I had mine done at the Mayo back in April of 2003. They took half of my left C7 and grafted it to the nerve that feeds my right/injured side deltoid. It works more to keep my shoulder in socket than anything beyond that function. I can lift my arm up to the side about 25 degrees, but I've got to flex my left arm's triceps to activate my right deltoid, so it's a bit complicated.

My left arm has gotten a little bit smaller in size and strength since the surgery, but nothing really that noticeable and deffinately doesn't change any of it's ability.

My good sides triceps was a bit week for the first two weeks, but it soon picked up the slack. I understand that surgeons in Asia have been using the whole C7 from the good side to injured side for quiet a while now. Not sure but I think over ten years.

Best of Luck,
Christopher