Ann Rehabil Med.  2013 Dec;37(6):913-918. 10.5535/arm.2013.37.6.913.

Medial Antebrachial Cutaneous Nerve Injury After Brachial Plexus Block: Two Case Reports

• Jung MJ
• Byun HY
• Lee CH
• Moon SW
• Oh MK
• Shin H

• KMID: 2266574
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5535/arm.2013.37.6.913

Abstract

Medial antebrachial cutaneous (MABC) nerve injury associated with iatrogenic causes has been rarely reported. Local anesthesia may be implicated in the etiology of such injury, but has not been reported. Two patients with numbness and painful paresthesia over the medial aspect of the unilateral forearm were referred for electrodiagnostic study, which revealed MABC nerve lesion in each case. The highly selective nature of the MABC nerve injuries strongly suggested that they were the result of direct nerve injury by an injection needle during previous brachial plexus block procedures. Electrodiagnostic studies can be helpful in evaluating cases of sensory disturbance after local anesthesia. To our knowledge, these are the first documented cases of isolated MABC nerve injury following ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block.

Keyword

Peripheral nerve injuries; Local anesthesia; Electrodiagnosis

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia, Local
Brachial Plexus*
Electrodiagnosis
Forearm
Humans
Hypesthesia
Needles
Paresthesia
Peripheral Nerve Injuries

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Diagram of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve.

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  Fig. 2 Axillary approach, showing relationships of the nerves to the artery.

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