the results of using a part of ulnar nerve for restoration of elbow flexion in patients with upper brachial plexus injury

in upper brachial plexus (c5-c6 or c5-c6-c7 roots) injuries, restoration of elbow flexion is the first aim. several methods have been used to achieve this goal. among these procedures, oberlin’s method (transfer of part of ulnar nerve to the nerve to biceps muscle) is the newest one. from april 2002 to march 2003 we used this method in 9 cases, 8 males and 1 female, of upper brachial plexus injury with impaired active elbow flexion and intact ulnar nerve. patients’ age ranged from 9 to 53 years. in 6 acute cases only oberlin’s method was used and in 3 old cases this technique was combined with gracilis free muscle transfer. the minimum follow up period was 6 months. six cases gained effective elbow flexion and 3 cases showed fair or poor results. no permanent impairment of ulnar nerve function was observed. we found oberlin’s method to be a safe, simple and effective way to achieve elbow flexion in patients with upper brachial plexus injury.