Demonstrating changes in upper limb function in Tetraplegic patients post nerve transfer surgery
Nicola Hunter1 1Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia
Abstract
Nerve transfers are an adjunct to usual therapy to enable a tetraplegic patient to activate a muscle or set of muscles to complete a different movement. This research focuses on quantifying the success of this surgery in relation to both movements activated, and the functional benefits achieved for these patients. Maximum recovery from a nerve transfer is known to take up to two years, so clear assessment of pre surgery skills is essential to quantify change over this extended period
Methods
Assessment of patients who have already had the nerve surgery completed to determine the functional tasks that a patient has been able to return to post activation of these pathways at two year point. Assessment to utilise Tetraplegic Upper Limb Activity Questionnaire” (TUAQ) and comparative video footage pre and post surgery.
Results
Review of data for comparison of all 25 nerve transfer patients from 2018 – 2022, including level and completeness of injury, bilateral or unilateral surgery and type of surgery.
Those patients who had surgery more than two years were assessed including comparison of function pre and post surgery and success of nerve activation
Conclusion
A longitudinal design for data collection has been developed using database for comparison of patient outcomes and a standardised assessment tool plus video analysis.
Conclusions about the impact of surgery on function will be drawn with the number of cases who have had their surgery more than 2 years ago. Increased analysis of patients will allow for trends to be identified.
Biography
Nicky graduated as an Occupational Therapist in 1986 and has been working in her chosen field of Spinal Cord Injury management for the past 20 years. She has Australia wide experience in this field. Nicky returned to WA in 2010 and has been working as a Senior Occupational Therapist at the state-wide Spinal unit treating patients from acute admission to discharge and beyond.
Nicky has a particular interest in the area of upper limb therapy for tetraplegics and has been instrumental in development of a nerve and tendon transfer service to promote improvements in upper limb function.