- See:
- Tendon transfers:
- Nerve Repair:
- Combined Injuries of the Median and Ulnar Nerves:
- Discussion:
- ulnar innervated intrinsic muscles of hand, FCU, & FDP units to ring & little fingers & part of long finger;
- functional deficit:
- opening the hand:
- power grip:
- pts w/ high ulnar nerve lesions may lose 60-80% of their grip strength;
- grasping and closing the hand;
- w/ ulnar nerve lesion, there is a noticeable deficit in all activities requiring pinch and grasp;
- becacuse of loss of intrinsics, pinch strength in ulnar nerve palsy is reduced by over 80%, w/ palmar adduction strength reduced by 75%;
- results of nerve repair:
- after repair of ulnar nerve lacerations above the elbow, return of extrinsic function can be expected, but return of intrinsics are often poor;
- Transfers:
- tendon transfers will improve pinch and grasp:
- only EPL & FPL remain functional in terms of thumb adduction;
- arthrodesis may be used to improve pinch strength;
- pts complain more of loss of MP arthrodesis
- ECRB adductorplasty w/ MP fusion can double pinch strength & is most successful pinch procedure;
- FDP deficit:
- reinforced by ECRL to the long, ring, and little fingers;
- adductor pollicis deficit:
- reinforced by FDS thru interosseous membrane & under pulley of ECU, w/ insertion into proximal phalanx of thumb;
- note that FDS harvest from the ring finger may be problematic in high ulnar nerve palsy, since this may significantly decrease power grip;
- APL deficit:
- brachioradialis (reroute) to APL;
- suture to other tendons (w/ or w/o ECRL) for power;
- Operative Correction of Intrinsic Deficit:
- Burkhalter Transfer
- procedure of choice;
- Bunnell Transfer:
- involves FDS transfer to the lateral bands;
- interosseous & lumbricals muscles of ring finger and little fingers, substituted by the FDS of ring finger, inorder to improve clawing and to improve
flexion at the MP joint;
- first dorsal interosseous muscle substituted by ECRL & split FDS of ring finger w/ one half to first lumbrical & one half to first dorsal interosseous;
- half the tendon is passed dorsally thru the 1st interosseous, where as the other half of the tendon is passed volarly to the lumbrical;
- main complication is creation of intrinsic plus hand, which preferentially extends PIP joint w/ minimal flexion of the MPJ;
- this is exacerbated by the PIP flexion lost from the FDS harvest;
- Zancolli Volar Capsulorraphy:
- performed thru a volar approach;
- goal is to create a MPJ flexion contracture, preventing claw deformity
Restoration of pinch in ulnar nerve palsy by transfer of split extensor digiti minimi and extensor indicis.
Early Tendon Transfers in Upper Extremity Peripheral Nerve Injury.
Three tendon transfer methods in reconstruction of ulnar nerve palsy.