Actinic brachial plexus lesion

Radiation-induced brachial plexus lesions are progressive and irreversible complications. Until now, there is no way to successful prevention and treatment of this problem. In our series, relief of pain could be achieved by neurolysis in some cases, but there was no recovery of sensory and motor function. In order to improve the vascularity and nerve tissue regeneration, we performed muscle or gliding tissue flaps after neurolysis in our department. Since 1975, 25 patients who developed radiation-induced plexopathy were treated in our department. We followed 18 patients to evaluate the benefits of our surgical intervention. None of the patients had improvement of their sensory or motor impairment. Relief of severe pain was achieved in 83% either by neurolysis only with or without muscle or gliding tissue flap. In some cases, paresis worsened postoperatively. We also observed a return of severe pain after the operation.