Neonatal brachial plexus palsy : impact throughout the lifespan

Neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP) is a nerve injury to the brachial plexus which controls arm-movements. This thesis describes the impact of this injury on the lives of patients in terms of quality of life, participation, healthcare use and treatment outcomes. Findings in this thesis have led to important insights into the care for patients with NBPP and their families. It turns out that there is considerable information need in these patients, that NBPP has impact on families of very young patients and adult patients perceive influence of NBPP on their study and career choices. This thesis also showed that when describing outcomes of shoulder surgery (tendon-transfers) it is important to take into account treatment history because outcomes differ for children with a surgical treatment history. This may help to manage patients’ outcome expectations. A recommendation in this thesis is to develop and investigate a standardized paramedic treatment protocol for the different life-phases of NBPP patients because this is not available yet. Hereby, a more strict follow-up is very important. Furthermore, better information should be developed in order to provide NBPP patients with the information they need throughout their lifespan. Findings in this thesis can be used for this.