Brachial Plexus Injuries

Research

Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has two laboratory research projects under way related to brachial plexus injuries.

• Nerve Conduits. Mayo has developed a multichanneled nerve tube for peripheral nerve repair. This nerve tube is made of PCLF [poly(caprolactone fumarate)], a new biomaterial invented at Mayo Clinic in Rochester that is flexible and easy to suture. The current line of research is investigating the influence of structure on the support of regeneration for the possibility of bridging larger gaps and improving regeneration by separate guidance of regenerating axons. Use of a nerve conduit would decrease disadvantages of autograft, the current gold standard, such as donor-site morbidity (pain, sensory abnormality, separate incisions, etc.) and limited availability.
• Choline Acetyltransferase (CAT) Assay: Application for Diagnosis and Treatment of Brachial Plexus Injuries. This research project is evaluating the relationship between CAT activity level in injured nerves and muscle function in a rat nerve repair model. The measurement of CAT activity in brachial plexus nerves can determine the level of motor fibers present. If there is a relationship between the level of CAT activity and functional recovery of muscle, then high CAT activity areas of the nerve can be targeted to specific muscles to improve motor activity.

Publications by Mayo Physicians

See a list of publications by Mayo Clinic authors on brachial plexus on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.

Drs. Bishop, Shin and Spinner were the editors of a book on Brachial Plexus Injuries in Adults that appeared in Hand Clinics, February 2005.

Mayo Clinic surgeons taught a course called "Advances in Adult Brachial Plexus Reconstruction: A Surgical Skills Course" in April 2006 for the American Association for Hand Surgery.