Brachial Plexopathies
British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research 3(4): 928-952, 2013 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Brachial Plexopathies Josef Finsterer1*, Raffi Topakian2, Julia Wanschitz3, Stefan Quasthoff4, Gerd Bodner5, Wolfgang Grisold6 and Wolfgang N. Löscher3 1Krankenanstalt Rudolfstiftung, Vienna. 2Neurological Department, Wagner-Jauregg Krankenhaus, Linz. 3Neurological Department, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck. 4Neurological Department, Medical University Graz, Graz. 5Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology and Musculoskeletal Radiology. Medical University of Vienna, Vienna. 6Neurological Department, Kaiser-Franz-Josef Spital, Vienna, Austria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author JF designed the study, performed the evaluation of the data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors RT, JW, SQ, GB, WG and WNL contributed to the collection and discussion of the data and supported the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript Received 1st January 2013 th Review Article Accepted 6 February 2013 Published 11th March 2013 ABSTRACT Lesions of the brachial plexus are most commonly caused by traumatic injuries. Other causes include infiltration by tumors, intrinsic or extrinsic compressions, damage from radiation therapy, or neuralgic amyotrophy (Parsonage-Turner syndrome). Less frequent causes of brachial plexus lesions include metabolic disease (e.g. diabetes), viral infections, immunological reactions to vaccination or infections, drugs, malignancies, paraneoplastic conditions, or hereditary disease (SEPT9 mutations, HNPP). The diagnosis of brachial plexus lesion is based upon history, clinical examination, and instrumental investigations, particularly, nerve conduction studies, electromyography, evoked potentials, magnetic stimulation, and the MRI. Treatment depends on the cause of the plexus lesion and includes prophylactic measures, physiotherapy, drugs, or surgery.
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