AVULSION OF THE BRACHIAL PLEXUS

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are to report six cases of avulsion of the brachial plexus from the spinal cord and to direct attention to a diagnostic method for determining the precise location of the traumatic lesion. Often there are no visible signs of trauma to guide the examiner in determining the exact anatomic site of the nerve disruption. The most careful neurological examination fails to disclose, with certainty, the exact point of injury or to explain the nature of the injury present. The six following case reports illustrate nerve root avulsion from the cervical spinal cord, four of them proved by exploratory laminectomy. REPORT OF CASES Case 1.— A 26-year-old Negro woman jumped from an automobile traveling 70 miles per hour seven months prior to her admission to Jefferson Hospital on May 27, 1946. She had sustained a laceration of the left scapuloclavicular region and a scapular fracture. There