Microsurgery for Brachial Plexus Injury Before Versus After 6 Months of Age: Results of the Multicenter Treatment and Outcomes of Brachial Plexus Injury (TOBI) Study.
Journal
The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume
ISSN: 1535-1386
Titre abrégé: J Bone Joint Surg Am
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0014030
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
05 02 2020
05 02 2020
Historique:
pubmed:
27
11
2019
medline:
25
7
2020
entrez:
27
11
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Infants with more severe brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI) benefit from primary nerve surgery to improve function. The timing of the surgery, however, is controversial. The Treatment and Outcomes of Brachial Plexus Injury (TOBI) study is a multicenter prospective study with the primary aim of determining the optimal timing of this surgical intervention. This study compared outcomes evaluated 18 to 36 months after "early" microsurgery (at <6 months of age) with the outcomes of "late" microsurgery (at >6 months of age). Of 216 patients who had undergone microsurgery, 118 were eligible for inclusion because they had had a nerve graft and/or transfer followed by at least 1 physical examination during the 18 to 36-month interval after the microsurgery but before any secondary surgery. Patients were grouped according to whether the surgery had been performed before or after 6 months of age. Postoperative outcomes were measured using the total Active Movement Scale (AMS) score as well as the change in the AMS score. To address hand reinnervation, we calculated a hand function subscore from the AMS hand items and repeated the analysis only for the subjects with a Narakas grade of 3 or 4. Our hypothesis was that microsurgery done before 6 months of age would lead to better clinical outcomes than microsurgery performed after 6 months of age. Eighty subjects (68%) had early surgery (at a mean age of 4.2 months), and 38 (32%) had late surgery (at a mean age of 10.7 months and a maximum age of 22.0 months). Infants who underwent early surgery presented earlier in life, had more severe injuries at baseline, and had a significantly lower postoperative AMS scores in the unadjusted analysis. However, when we controlled for the severity of the injury, the difference in the AMS scores between the early and late surgery groups was not significant. Similarly, when we restricted our multivariable analysis to patients with a Narakas grade-3 or 4 injury, there was no significant difference in the postoperative AMS hand subscore between the early and late groups. This study suggests that surgery earlier in infancy (at a mean age of 4.2 months) does not lead to better postoperative outcomes of BPBI nerve surgery than when the surgery is performed later in infancy (mean age of 10.7 months). Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Infants with more severe brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI) benefit from primary nerve surgery to improve function. The timing of the surgery, however, is controversial. The Treatment and Outcomes of Brachial Plexus Injury (TOBI) study is a multicenter prospective study with the primary aim of determining the optimal timing of this surgical intervention. This study compared outcomes evaluated 18 to 36 months after "early" microsurgery (at <6 months of age) with the outcomes of "late" microsurgery (at >6 months of age).
METHODS
Of 216 patients who had undergone microsurgery, 118 were eligible for inclusion because they had had a nerve graft and/or transfer followed by at least 1 physical examination during the 18 to 36-month interval after the microsurgery but before any secondary surgery. Patients were grouped according to whether the surgery had been performed before or after 6 months of age. Postoperative outcomes were measured using the total Active Movement Scale (AMS) score as well as the change in the AMS score. To address hand reinnervation, we calculated a hand function subscore from the AMS hand items and repeated the analysis only for the subjects with a Narakas grade of 3 or 4. Our hypothesis was that microsurgery done before 6 months of age would lead to better clinical outcomes than microsurgery performed after 6 months of age.
RESULTS
Eighty subjects (68%) had early surgery (at a mean age of 4.2 months), and 38 (32%) had late surgery (at a mean age of 10.7 months and a maximum age of 22.0 months). Infants who underwent early surgery presented earlier in life, had more severe injuries at baseline, and had a significantly lower postoperative AMS scores in the unadjusted analysis. However, when we controlled for the severity of the injury, the difference in the AMS scores between the early and late surgery groups was not significant. Similarly, when we restricted our multivariable analysis to patients with a Narakas grade-3 or 4 injury, there was no significant difference in the postoperative AMS hand subscore between the early and late groups.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that surgery earlier in infancy (at a mean age of 4.2 months) does not lead to better postoperative outcomes of BPBI nerve surgery than when the surgery is performed later in infancy (mean age of 10.7 months).
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31770293
doi: 10.2106/JBJS.18.01312
pii: 00004623-202002050-00002
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Multicenter Study
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
194-204Investigateurs
Mohab Foad
(M)
Vincent R Hentz
(VR)
Kevin Little
(K)
Charles T Mehlman
(CT)
Apurva Shah
(A)
Milan Stevanovic
(M)
Kevin Yakuboff
(K)
Allison Allgier
(A)
Katherine A Brustowicz
(KA)
Patricia Connell
(P)
Beena Desai
(B)
Alexander Downs
(A)
Kendra Eckstein
(K)
Vanessa Gregoire
(V)
William P Hennrikus
(WP)
Myles D Jackson
(MD)
Bonnie M Kaufman
(BM)
Holly Leshikar
(H)
Eliza B Lewine
(EB)
Hayley Lynch
(H)
Elizabeth E Molnar
(EE)
Melanie A Morscher
(MA)
Emily S Reiff
(ES)
Amee K Shah
(AK)
Ashley B Tartarilla
(AB)
Laurie Travers
(L)
Robert Yu
(R)
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