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Prognosis for Radial Nerve Palsy Present At Birth

Posted on: 11/30/1999
Sometimes infants are born with radial nerve palsy. Palsy is another word for paralysis. The cause is usually positional. The child was lying in a position in the uterus that put too much pressure on the nerve. Prolonged labor is another common cause of this problem

The symptoms include loss of finger and wrist extension. Sometimes there is bruising under the skin. Dimpling over the area occurs when there is a loss of protective fat. Radial nerve palsy is a rare problem. Not much is known about the prognosis.

In this report, four cases of radial nerve palsy in the newborn are presented. In each case, the nerve palsy was limited to the radial nerve. And there was a history of prolonged labor of more than 18 hours.

There were no other problems present. There were no changes in the upper arm. The lack of upper arm involvement and the presence of skin changes near the elbow suggest compression occurred at or near the elbow.

All four children were followed for at least two years. They each received hand therapy with splinting and exercises. Each child had a complete recovery sometime during the first five months after birth.

When a child is born with nerve palsy, the physician must consider a number of different possible causes. Infection, tumor, bone fracture, and the presence of some other syndrome or condition must be ruled out. Complete recovery is expected if there are no bands of tight fascia around the nerve.

References:
James T. Monica, MD, et al. Radial Nerve Palsy in the Newborn. In Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. June 2008. vol. 28. No. 4. Pp. 460-462.

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