Idiopathic brachial neuritis in children.

Curr Pediatr Res 2017 Volume 21 Issue 2 233 cause of pure monoplegia. A variety of disorders affect the brachial plexus and the cervical radicals inside the cervical canal such as trauma, inflammation, vasculitis or malignancies [1-3]. Pain followed by weakness is a feature of either spinal cord compression or plexitis. In cord lesions the symptoms depend on the degree of cord impingement and duration of tumour involvement. Typically the pain is either localized due to vertebral destruction or radicular due to compression of the nerve roots, and it precedes other symptoms by 2-4 months. Commonly, it gets aggravated by Valsalva manoeuvre and it progresses to weakness in one or both limbs with loss of sensation, autonomic dysfunction and paralysis. In vague cases spinal cord imaging studies may be needed. Cervical radiculopathies are rare in children, and its clinical presentation could often be confused with brachial plexopathies, especially when multiple roots are involved. The upper trunk brachial plexopathy simulates the C5 or C6 root lesion. Unlike brachial neuritis, it is unusual for radicular pain to subside as weakness increases, with pain mostly persistent and associated with neck muscle spasm. While radiculopathies tend to be sensorimotor, brachial neuritis is often a motordominant situation. Fibrillation potentials are often seen on EMG of the cervical paraspinal muscles in cases of Idiopathic brachial neuritis in children.