United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Yes Dick the first name is Idris.... is Carrie TBPI? Im not real familiar with who you/she are. SORRY! I will be sure to let you know any info I find out talking to him next week!

COurt xx

Court..I've left you a message on the other boards...didn't want to cause a stir on this one...Liz B aka Brit mum x

CHEERS MUM! hehehe

Hi everyone it's me todd from MI.Ihad the gracilis muscle trasfer about 6 months ago by a Dr. kevin chung from UofM.to let you all know i am doing pretty good.I can now start to move my arm a litte bet now and in 6 more months he is going to do my next surgury for my hand.It is going on 3 years since my accident to let all you know it is very hard thing we all are going through.But we can't give up keep fighting everyone there is help.I know courteny she doesn't live to far from me.
IF you have question about my surgury Email me.
Take CARExoxo

What exactly is a Gracilis Muscle transfer for?

It depends, I was looking at it for biceps functions, some will have this procedure for hand function. It really depends what you need it for. In my opinion this is kind of a :last resort: option, when there is nothing else that can be done. Just my two cents!

COurt xx

My son John has had two gracilis transfers (Double Doi procedure) by Drs Bishop, Shin & Spinner at the Mayo Clinic. They've done over 90 of these transfers over the past three years so have a lot of experience. John had all five avulsed & now is able to bend his arm & make/release a grip. Not only that, the movement from these surgeries has caused his pain levels to decrease dramatically.

Like Courtney wrote, it's an option for those with full avulsion and/or when there's been a time lag between the injury & surgery to the point that the original muscles have atrophied too much. Gracilis muscles are perfect "donors" since they're on the inside of the thighs & only used for gripping - such as riding a horse. Most people wouldn't miss them at all.

On below url, the 8th article is by the Mayo doctors & is about gracilis transfers - published in May '04.
http://www.aans.org/education/journal/n ... sf-toc.asp

Keep asking questions! And take care,

Ellen

Hey y'all, Carrie recently had her consult with Dr Gharbaoui on her upcoming muscle transfer where he found something interesting, but disturbing. As he was checking her hand he noticed one of the two arteries was blocked. What's disturbing is that the problem was just noticed (4 years post accident). Anyhoo, we got an angiogram to confirm the blockage and the location. It was apparently caused by the seat belt shoulder harness. We have a consult with Dr Azizzadeh (vascular surgeon) at Hermann in Houston in a couple of weeks to schedule a fix for this problem, which must be sucessful prior to the muscle transfer. Then after that recovery, we'll schedule the muscle transfer soon thereafter. That surely is most of the reason her hand feels colder, we thought it was from hanging down as she doesn't wear a sling.
More later.... Dick

Carrie's vascular surgery was sucessfull last Monday. So she now has sufficient blood flow to her BPI arm/hand, so recovery may come easier. Her hand is nice and warm now instead of cold. It took 4 hours for her subclavian bypass and loads of P/T to be expected after 3-4 weeks off to let things heal. We've been doing very easy passive ROM as she can tolerate to try to keep joints from freezing. Hermann Hospital in Houston seems to be a very good hospital if you get the choice. The doctors and staff are very talented,professional and personable. So, in a couple of months we'll get with Drs Nath and Gharbaoui concerning Carries gracilis muscle transfers.
C-ya, Dick

gLAD TO HEAR THIS dICK, KEEP US POSTED! i WILL BE DOWN TO SEE dR. nATH IN jUNE FOR A CHECK UP TO SEE HOW i AM COMING ALONE AND IF IT IS TIME FOR THE MUSCLE TRANSFER. KEEP US POSTED.

coURT XX