title: Traumatic peripheral nerve injuries: demographic and electrophysiologic findings of 802 patients from a developing country.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study a series of patients with traumatic peripheral nerve injury during the past 10 years in Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty/Istanbul/Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The chart review of 802 patients was evaluated and we explored the type(s) and cause(s) of injury, and electromyographic findings. The study included 171 children and 631 adults and we excluded the patients who suffered from injuries due to the Marmara earthquakes that occurred in 1999.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Injury was most common in the upper extremities in both children (78.36%) and adults (63.54%). The common causes of nerve injury in children were as follows: obstetric lesions (46.78%), iatrogenic lesions (16.95%), traffic accidents (15.7%), and sharp lacerations (12.8%), whereas the commonest cause of nerve injury in adults was due to sharp lacerations (27.57%), followed by iatrogenic lesions (25.67%), and traffic accidents (23.77%). The most commonly injured nerves were the brachial plexus and ulnar nerve in children and adults, respectively. Electromyography demonstrated that complete nerve injury predominated in both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If preventive measures are taken into consideration satisfactorily, the incidence of disabling peripheral nerve injury may decrease, as such injuries are often treatable.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Neurology daggerNeurosurgery, Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nurten
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uzun
authors.forename: Taner
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanriverdi
authors.forename: Feray Karaali
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Savrun
authors.forename: Meral Erdemir
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kiziltan
authors.forename: Rahsan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hanimoglu
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanci