title: [Functional surgery of upper limb in tetraplegics since 50 years].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Development of upper limb functional surgery in tetraplegics in the last 50 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The literature review relating to the years 1950-2002 was carried out with 3 data bases: Medline, Pascal, Embase. This review also involved a thorough study of non-indexed references.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A large number of surgical procedures are described. Two priorities are stressed by the authors: safety of these procedures and duration of postoperative immobilization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review of literature shows that the prospects for restoring upper limb function in tetraplegics are greater than ever, offering a larger number of patients the possibility to increase their independence in daily life. Functional surgery remains, nevertheless, demanding in terms of length of immobilization and presupposes requiring a multidisciplinary approach requiring rehabilitation teams to be up to date with surgical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Centre Dr Bouffard-Vercelli, Cap Peyrefite, 66290, Cerbère, France. chfattal@yahoo.fr <chfattal@yahoo.fr>
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fattal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teissier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leclercq
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Revol
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Enjalbert
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*