School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Clinic for Neurosurgery, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2018 Sep;160(9):1837-1845. doi: 10.1007/s00701-018-3640-7. Epub 2018 Jul 29.
Traumatic brachial plexus injuries are generally severe, and in many cases associated with surrounding tissue injuries, which makes them hard to diagnose at the right time. This paper presents etiological and epidemiological characteristics of surgically treated civilian traumatic brachial plexus injuries.
This retrospective study included 68 patients, operated due to the traumatic brachial plexus injuries at Clinic for Neurosurgery, Clinical Center of Serbia, during the 11-year period.
The vast majority of injured patients were men in full working maturity. In our study, there were seven different etiological factors. The road traffic accidents were the most common-41 (60.3%), while the motorcycle accidents were the most dominant subtype (53.7%) of all road traffic accidents, and also representing 32.4% of all causes of trauma. Supraclavicular elements of the brachial plexus were injured in more than 80% of patients. A total of 49 (72.1%) patients from our study had one or more associated injuries. The most common associated injuries were bone fractures, brain contusions, and vascular injuries.
Although rare, non-war-related severe brachial plexus injuries represent a group of patients carrying high risk of insufficient functional recovery regardless of treatment modality, or surgical technique. Epidemiological and etiological data are therefore very important to identify the groups in risk and to induce preventive actions aimed at these patients.
外伤性臂丛神经损伤通常较为严重，且在许多情况下伴有周围组织损伤，这使得它们很难及时得到诊断。本文介绍了经手术治疗的民用外伤性臂丛神经损伤的病因学和流行病学特征。
本回顾性研究纳入了在塞尔维亚临床中心神经外科诊所因外伤性臂丛神经损伤而接受手术治疗的 68 例患者，研究时间跨度为 11 年。
绝大多数受伤患者为正值工作壮年的男性。在本研究中，有 7 种不同的病因。道路交通伤最为常见，共 41 例（60.3%），其中摩托车事故是所有道路交通伤中最常见的亚型（53.7%），也是所有创伤原因的 32.4%。臂丛锁骨上部分受损的患者超过 80%。本研究共有 49 例（72.1%）患者存在 1 种或多种合并伤。最常见的合并伤是骨折、脑挫裂伤和血管损伤。
尽管罕见，但与战争无关的严重臂丛神经损伤是一组无论治疗方式或手术技术如何，功能恢复不足风险均较高的患者。因此，流行病学和病因学数据对于识别高危人群并针对这些患者采取预防措施非常重要。
