Bishop, Allen T.

Object Patients with brachial plexus injury (BPI) present with a combination of motor weakness/paralysis, sensory deficits, and pain. Brachial plexus injury is generally not believed to be associated with headaches. However, CSF leaks may be associated with CSF volume–depletion (low-pressure) headaches and can occur in BPI secondary to nerve root avulsion. Only a few cases of headaches associated with BPI have been reported. It is unknown if headaches in patients with BPI occur so rarely, or if they are just unrecognized by physicians and/or patients in which the focus of attention is the affected limb. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of CSF volume–depletion headaches in patients with BPI. Methods All adult patients presenting at the Mayo brachial plexus clinic with traumatic BPI were asked to complete a questionnaire addressing the presence and quality of headaches following their injury. The patients' clinical, injury, and imaging characteristics were subsequently reviewed. Results Between December 2008 and July 2010, 145 patients completed the questionnaire. Twenty-two patients reported new onset headaches occurring after their BPI. Eight of these patients experienced positional headaches, suggestive of CSF volume depletion. One of the patients with orthostatic headaches was excluded because the headaches immediately followed a lumbar puncture for a myelogram. Six of the other 7 patients with positional headaches had a clear preganglionic BPI. The available imaging studies in these 6 patients revealed evidence of CSF leaks: pseudomeningoceles (n = 5), CSF tracking into soft tissues (n = 3), CSF tracking into the intraspinal compartment (n = 3), CSF tracking into the pleural space (n = 2), and low-positioned cerebellar tonsils (n = 2). Conclusions In this retrospective study, 15.2% of patients (22 of 145 patients) with traumatic BPI suffered from a new-onset headache. Seven of these patients (4.8%) experienced postural headaches clearly suggestive of CSF volume depletion likely secondary to a CSF leak associated with the BPI, whereas the other 15 patients (10.3%) suffered headaches that may have represented a variant of CSF depletion headaches without a postural characteristic or a headache from another cause. These data suggest that CSF volume–depletion headaches occur in a significant proportion of patients with BPI and have been underrecognized and underreported.

With the passage of time, certain hand surgery procedures are anecdotally dubbed “workhorse” techniques. These are procedures that are extremely reliable and have repeatedly demonstrated good results. However, with time, paradigms undergo shifts, and this is as true for hand surgery as any other field. In this article, we will describe the use of three new “workhorse” flaps that we have found to have reliable results in complex hand reconstruction: the pedicled radial forearm fascia flap for dorsal hand reconstruction, the free anterolateral thigh flap for mangled hand reconstruction, and the medial femoral condyle vascularized bone graft for scaphoid fracture nonunion reconstruction.

AbstractPurposeNumerous surgical techniques have been described for the treatment of peroneal nerve palsy after knee dislocation with less than optimal outcomes. The purpose of this article is to present a review of the literature including modern surgical treatment options for peroneal nerve palsy after knee dislocation.MethodReview of the current body of literature relevant to the topic was undertaken and summarized accordingly. Mechanism of injury, pathology and prognosis as well as current and novel treatment options are presented.ResultsNeurolysis and nerve grafting results are dependant on nerve graft length, with documented recovery rates of only 44% for nerve grafts longer than 6 cm. Posterior tibial tendon transfer procedures have had reasonable success in allowing patients to return to ambulation without assistive devices; however, dorsiflexion strength on the affected side has been reported at only 30% that of the normal contralateral side, and return to activities more strenuous than walking has not been reported. Future concepts including partial nerve transfer of a motor branch of the tibial nerve to the peroneal nerve have been described, but no outcome data is currently available.ConclusionPeroneal nerve palsy after knee dislocation leads to significant functional impairment. Prior treatment strategies utilized for restoration of dorsiflexion and peroneal nerve function have yielded overall poor results. Newer surgical techniques are being developed and clinical trials are under way to evaluate their effectiveness.

The success of vascularized bone grafts from the medial femoral condyle in various clinical applications has sparked renewed interest in the microvascular anatomy of this region. This study describes the arterial supply of the distal medial femoral condyle and its implications in harvesting vascularized bone grafts. The location, branching pattern, internal diameter, and distribution of perforators of the descending genicular artery and superior medial genicular artery in 19 fresh cadaveric lower limbs were recorded. The descending genicular artery was present in 89% and the superior medial genicular artery was present in 100% of specimens with average distances proximal to the articular surface of 13.7 cm and 5.2 cm, respectively. The average number of perforating vessels was greatest in the posterior distal quadrant of the condyle. The blood supply of the medial femoral condyle is plentiful and consistent making it a useful source for free vascularized bone grafts.

✓Reconstruction of extensive nerve defects is hampered by the amount of autogenous nerve tissue available for transplantation and by donor site morbidity. Nerve allografts, being of foreign origin and potentially unlimited in supply, provide a solution to these problems. Studies have shown that nerve allotransplants require immunosuppression only until end-organ connections are made and that immunosuppressant therapy may be subsequently discontinued with no negative effect on functional outcome. Also, recent experimental and clinical focus has been on shorter periods of immunosuppression in order to reduce risk, even stopping immunosuppression after regeneration has reached the distal suture line rather than before recovery of end-organ connections. In the pediatric population, the increased disease burden and increased potential for nerve regeneration as well as the frequent availability of a living related donor make allografts all the more attractive as solutions to nerve reconstructive problems. Nevertheless, the risks of immunosuppression must not be underemphasized, and they deserve more attention in the current nerve transplantation literature. The authors report on a child who, at the age of 1 year, received a nerve allograft from a living related donor who was positive for Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). The child quickly developed a symptomatic EBV infection concurrent with immunosuppressant drug therapy. The immunosuppression regimen was stopped prematurely, and the patient suffered only a short illness, but the EBV infection could have developed into a life-threatening posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). The patient is consequently predisposed to develop PTLD and will have to be monitored for the rest of his life. This case highlights the importance of considering the potentially fatal risks associated with this elective procedure. Future studies are needed to quantify and minimize this complication. Nevertheless, it should be weighed against the potential functional benefit from using nerve allografts.

The reverse radial forearm fascial (RRFF) flap is widely used in soft-tissue reconstruction of the hand. The traditional RRFF flap incorporates the radial artery from the forearm and is perfused by retrograde flow through the palmar arch. In patients with an abnormal Allen test because of an incomplete palmar arch, the traditional RRFF flap is contraindicated unless a vein graft is used to reconstruct the radial artery. A simpler alternative approach for hand reconstruction in such patients is a distally based RRFF flap based on radial artery perforators, which preserves the radial artery. We used RRFF flaps based on radial artery perforators in five patients who had palmar or dorsal soft-tissue loss. All five recovered full hand function, and only one had any complications (full-thickness skin graft loss at recipient site). The RRFF flap based on distal radial artery perforators is suitable for thin coverage of soft-tissue defects in hands with either a complete or an incomplete palmar arch.