United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I know we probably shouldn't do this because each case is different, but lets. I'm suggesting we do a "pole" about the results we see after surgery.

My son Sebastiao is 7 months. He had nerve transfer and neurolosys at 3 months. He could move his hand and shoulder but had no biceps function. In 3 months we've seen progress in the hand movement, more rotation of the shoulder but still no biceps function.

What happened to the cases you know?

It would definitely help if each person said what their injury was, avulsions, stretch or whatever, and which nerves were affected. Then we would know how good of a result they had.

Guest:
I'm not a doctor and I'm not english but I think when there is only stretch there is no need for a nerve transfer. Perhaps only neurolosys? But I don't know. Terms and procedures vary a lot in each country. Also if the doctors told me which nerves were injured I really didn't see what use I'd make of that information, so... I don't know which nerves were affected...
Sorry about the "pole", I meant "poll".

Some stretch injuries do need repair by transfers, most do not. Lower root repairs take longer to recover than upper root injuries because the nerves have further to grow, so which nerves are damaged and how they are damaged is very important. I am not english or a doctor, either!

Our Peyton just turned 4 years old. She had nerve transfer at 3 mos old also. 5 torn nerves. She started using Bicep around 2 years old, but what really helped was she used e-stim for 6 mos, twice a day, everyday. then at 2 1/2 really started using more. But REMEMBER>>> we should never compare, because you need to keep in mind that all our children develop differently I know that is hard, because as I type this, I am guilty of comparing also. Keep up the Therapy and Prayers to you and your family.

Gavin had ruptures of C4 C5 C6 and I think stretch of C7 & T1 ( in those days parents were NOT encouraged to ask more and the surgery notes are sketchy and the surgeon is dead so I am little in the dark!)
he had nerve grafts and a neuroma removed at 6 months and 1 week
it was 13 months POST OPERATIVELY before we saw any biceps recovery AT ALL - after the first sighting of biceps it recovered quite quickly and withing about 3-4 weeks of the first sighting he was bending his elbow beautifully.
Hope this information helps

As Teresa and Karen very easily understood what I'm looking for is to try and understand if my son will ever have bicep function or how many years that can take. In my country there are no sketches or parents beeing told which nerves were injured. Doctors just give you a slight idea of the procedure and how they think things will progress. And they speak portuguese.
We all know each case is different but my doctor said not before August. I'm seeing August come to an end and I'm thinking maybe next August.

is nerve graft the same as nerve transfer?

I think that in a nerve transfer they move a nerve from one part to another to restore some function ( but I may have that completely wrong!)
In a Nerve graft where there is a gap between the nerve ends which have been severed they put a piece of donor nerve ( usually harvested from the childs opposite leg - sometimes the bottom half of the affected arm, some times from the intercostal area between the ribs) and then graft it between the two severed ends of the nerve.
Karen

OK. So let me post this again to be a little bit more acurate.