title: Pediatric radial mononeuropathies: a clinical and electromyographic study of sixteen children with review of the literature.
abstract: Sixteen pediatric radial mononeuropathies were seen among 2077 electromyograms performed in the electromyography laboratory at The Children's Hospital, Boston, during 16.5 years, 1979-1995. Eight (50%) of these radial neuropathies, including 2 in newborns with apparent prenatal onset, were atraumatic, primarily related to compression in 6 and entrapment in 2. The other 8 (50%) were traumatic related to fractures or lacerations. Electromyography documented the radial neuropathy to be localized to the proximal main radial nerve trunk in 2 (13%), distal main radial nerve trunk in 9 (56%), and posterior interosseous nerve in 5 (31%) children. Significant improvement was noted in 13 of the 16 radial neuropathies--within 6-12 weeks for demyelinating lesions and up to 17 months for axonal injuries. Rarely, a child with a chronic progressive radial neuropathy or a postfracture radial neuropathy that does not improve in 3 months may require exploration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Escolar
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D011826:Radial Nerve / Q000601:surgery; D014953:Wrist / Q000294:innervation