Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury – New Treatment / Surgery
Children's Hospital’s Dr. Gregory Borschel, recently performed a nerve transfer on the brachial plexus of a child. A nerve transfer has been around for several years; however it was not performed on children until recently.
Prior to the nerve transfer, surgeons typically performed what is called a nerve graft on children with brachial plexus injuries. A nerve graft takes healthy nerves from elsewhere in the body and grafts them around the damaged nerves. This procedure has several downsides including leaving a “numb spot” in the location where the nerves were taken for the graft.
The nerve transfer, a six hour microsurgery, involves cutting the crushed nerves that send messages to the arm, hand and shoulder and reconnecting them to an undamaged or healthy, redundant nerve.
Washington University School of Medicine's chief of the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery Dr. Susan Mackinnon called the results “spectacular.”
