Objectives: The study focuses on demographic patterns of various patterns of peripheral nerve injury patients in a tertiary hospital.
Methods: Seventy five patients of peripheral nerve trauma were studied over 2 years (June 2006 to September 2008). Most of the patients were subjected to early proper exploration of the wounds and direct nerve repair. Nerve conduction studies were performed in late cases. Standard microsurgical nerve repair was performed in majority. Recovery patterns were noted at regular intervals on follow up examinations.
Results: Most of the patients were young students with an average age of 26.4 years. Glass was the main agent inflicting the injury (58.7%) and wrist injuries were common in our group (62.8%). Median nerve and Ulnar nerves were the most frequently injured nerves in our patients. Epineural microsurgical nerve repair technique was applied to most of our patients. On follow up examinations, excellent recovery patterns were noted in clean lacerated nerves which were repaired early.
Conclusion: Peripheral nerve injuries are quite common and challenging to a plastic surgeon. They are mostly overlooked upon in trivial traumatic injuries and subsequently lead to loss of various functional modalities. Proper early exploration in glass cut injuries along the volar aspect of the wrist and use of standard microsurgical nerve repair procedures, yields excellent results in this group of patient population.
