The Results of Surgical Treatments in the Peripheral Nerve Injuries

말초신경 손상 후 수술적 치료에 대한 고찰

Peripheral nerve injury occurs mostly by trauma and is usually associated with fracture of bone and joint, muscular injury and tendon injury and it also evokes paralysis and anesthesia. When treatment of peripheral nerve injury is considered,, the modality of treatment is decided by the general condition of the patient, type of injury, associated injuries and the condition of wound. To get the maximum results, surgical treatment and reconstruction and rehabilitation should all go in hand-in-hand. From January 1985 to December 1994, we observed 61 patients that had operation without reconstruction due to peripheral nerve injury with a follow-up period of more than 1 year. Among the 61 patients, 44 were men(72%) and 17 were women(28%). Follow-up period was average 19 months. Age distribution was mostly in their twenties with a mean age of 28 years. Time interval of operation after injury was average 11 months. Trauma was the main cause of peripheral nerve injuries with a proportion of 87%. 31 patients had neurorrhaphy, in which case 14 patients had stay suture and 17 patients did not. 14 patients had nerve graft, and 16 patients had neurolysis. We used our scales to compare the results of surgery on the basis of British Research Council System. We gave scores to every sensory and motor scale to estimate functional improvement and emphasized on motor functional improvement. The total score = sensory score + ($2{\times}motor$ score). We considered 8-9 points as excellent, 6-7 points as good, 2-5 points as fair, 0-1 points as poor result. We considered excellent and good as much improved. Excellent and good results were obtained in 13 out of 14 neurorrhaphy with stay suture(93%), 12 out of 17 neurorrhaphy without stay suture(71%), 6 out of 14 nerve graft(43%), 12 out of 16 neurolysis(75%). Among the patients with neurorrhaphy done within 3 months, 11 out of 14(86%) showed improvement, but among the patients after 4 months 3 out of 17(76%) showed improvement. 84% of improvement was observed in the patients with time interval from injury to surgery within 3 months, and 64% in the patients with time interval after 4 months. In the aspect of age, 77% with the age below 20 years, 70% with the age between 21 and 30 years, 66% with the age above 31 years showed improvement. We conclude that considering degree of injury, time interval from injury and age with the adequate method of treatment, we can obtain good results from surgery.