Abstract

Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Palsy (OBPP) is a complication of difficult delivery and resulted from excessive traction on the brachial plexus during delivery. Erb palsy, klumpke paralysis and panplexus palsy reported in 46, 0.6 and 20% of patients, respectively. Unilateral injury is more common than bilateral injury. Risk factors include macrosomia, multiparity, prior delivery of a child with OBPP, breech delivery shoulder dystocia, vacium and forceps assisted delivery and excessive maternal weight gain. The recovery rate is usually reported to be between 80 and 90%. We evaluated 42 children with OBPP. Out of them, we could follow only 28 cases during two years. Poor to moderate recovery occurred in 13 cases. Good to complete (expected) recovery occurred in 15 cases. Most of the patients were females. Right side palsy was more prevalent than left side palsy. Vaginal delivery without forceps was the most mode of delivery. Vertex was the most common presentation. Most of the patients were term. The mean weight of the birth was 3.8 kg. Erb palsy and pan-plexus palsy consisted of 71.4 and 28.6% of lesions. In patients with Erb palsy, there were preganglionic palsy in 3 (15.8%) and postganglionic palsy in 16 (84.2%) cases, while all the patients with panplexus palsy had postganglionic palsy. All patients with complete recovery (9 of 15) had Erb palsy and postganglionic lesion. Erb palsy was present in 71.4% and panplexus palsy was present in 28.6% of cases. Also, 23.8% of cases had preganglionic and 76.2% of cases had postganglionic injures.