Management of obstetric brachial plexus palsy.

Abstract

OBPP is a disease with deleterious medical, psychological, and socioeconomic sequelae for the patient and his or her family. The majority of patients show acceptable spontaneous recovery with nonoperative management, which includes aggressive physical rehabilitation and electrical stimulation. There are patients with guarded prognosis, however, who have no chance of recovery unless they undergo early aggressive surgical reconstruction of the injured brachial plexus. It is of great importance to diagnose the injury type as early as possible, especially if there is minimal recovery in the early weeks of follow-up. This allows timely reconstruction to take place, earlier than 3 months for global palsy cases and at 3 months in Erb's type lesions, for best functional results.