Value of muscle biopsy in the assessment of the prognosis of brachial plexus paralysis

: Since Plexus brachialis lesions mainly occur in young persons, their socio-medical significance is undisputed. While the diagnostic rules are largely standardised, the time and the kind of the surgical intervention is disputed. The enzymic-histochemical examination of the denervated muscles of nine patients confirm the trend towards an intervention as early as possible. After only a few days serious changes of the mosaic structure of the muscles with a great number of histopathological particularities had occurred. After half a year, the muscles already showed considerable fibrous changes, so that re-innervation is highly restricted. The enzymic-histochemical and clinical findings largely correlate.