United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I have read some of your posts and looked at pictures on various sites and I was wondering how they determine where they take the nerve from for the primary surgery. It seems to me that many of them are taken from the leg, but my daughter had primary and hers was taken from behind her ear. Just wondering what the reasoning behind this was.

Thanks, Jill

Jill,

Ryan had the nerve taken from his leg. He was already an adult (22) not sure if that was the reason or not.

Take care,

Karen

The best thing to do would be to ask the surgeon for the particular reason, but from what I understand, the primary determinant is how much nerve they need for a graft. If they only need the amt. they can get from behind the ear, then that's all they use. Sometimes they need to use one leg. In Nicole's case, they used her leg and behind her ear. I've also heard of cases where they've had to use both legs. Again, I just think it depends upon how much repair work is needed, but I would confirm that w/the particular surgeon.

-Tina

As someone else mentioned, I think the primary determinant is the amount of nerve needed. Hannah had hers taken from behind the ear. She only had a c5-c6 injury. I seem to recall hearing (somewhere) that TCH only uses the sural nerve now. But I don't know why that is.

Gabrielle's was also taken from behind the ear. Before surgery they said they would not know which sight until they got in but probably the leg. After surgery they said they were able to use the nerve from behind her ear because of the size of the tear. If it is small enough they only need to do a small graft. So we were told it was all in the size of nerve needed.