Peripheral Nerve Injuries Flashcards
Describe the clinical manifestation of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).
CTS typically presents with pain or paraesthesia in the thumb, index, and middle fingers, often worse at night. Patients may experience numbness, clumsiness, thenar muscle wasting, and sensory loss in the median nerve distribution.
How is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome diagnosed?
Diagnosis of CTS is based on clinical presentation, including symptoms and physical examination findings. Nerve conduction studies may be needed to confirm the diagnosis and assess the severity of nerve compression.
Briefly outline the three types of acute peripheral nerve injuries.
The three types of acute peripheral nerve injuries are:
1. Neurapraxia: Stretching of the nerve without axon disruption.
2. Axonotmesis: Damage to axons within intact sheaths.
3. Neurotmesis: Complete or irreparable nerve division.
Explain the difference in recovery between neurapraxia and axonotmesis.
Neurapraxia typically recovers quickly, within minutes to hours or occasionally longer, as nerve conduction is restored. Axonotmesis recovery involves axon regeneration from the central end and may take months, especially for longer nerves.
List five potential causes of brachial plexus injuries in adults.
Causes of brachial plexus injuries in adults include: blunt trauma (falls, motor vehicle accidents), athletic injuries, gunshot wounds, medical trauma (surgery, injections), cancer invasion, and radiation therapy.
What are the key symptoms of Erb’s Palsy?
Erb’s Palsy, affecting the upper ventral rami of the brachial plexus (C5-C6), presents with weakness and loss of feeling in one arm.
Describe the typical presentation of an ulnar nerve injury.
Ulnar nerve injuries, commonly occurring at the wrist or elbow, lead to sensory loss in the little and ring fingers, paralysis of lumbricals and interossei muscles, and a characteristic claw hand deformity with an inability to extend the fingers.
What is the most common cause of radial nerve injury?
Radial nerve injury is usually caused by fractures or compression of the mid to upper humerus.
Outline the symptoms and signs of sciatic nerve palsy.
Sciatic nerve palsy can cause pain, abnormal gait, foot drop, external rotation and abduction contracture of the hip, equinovarus or equinus deformity, muscle weakness/atrophy, and sensory deficits like paraesthesia and numbness.
Explain the potential consequences of damage to the common peroneal nerve.
Damage to the common peroneal nerve results in foot drop due to paralysis of ankle and foot extensors, foot inversion due to unopposed action of flexors and invertors, and anaesthesia over the anterior and lateral aspects of the leg and foot.
