Nerve surgery

The arm and the hand are essentially supplied by three main nerves: the middle arm nerve, the ulnar nerve and the spoke nerve. On their way from the cervical spine and the plexus of arm nerves to the fingers, these nerves have to pass through several so-called anatomical bottlenecks. For various reasons - including inflammation, swelling of the surrounding tissue or tumours - the main nerves at the constrictions can be narrowed and irritated. This irritation and increase in pressure can damage the nerve, resulting in a hand nerve constriction syndrome. The consequences are pain, numbness or tingling of the affected fingers up to a loss of muscle strength of the innervated muscle.

Frequent nerve constriction syndromes are:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome:
• Affected nerve: middle arm nerve
• Narrow place: wrist inner side
• Complaints: Burning pain and numbness of the thumb, index finger and middle finger
• Loge-de-Guyon syndrome:
• Affected nerve: ulnar nerve
• Narrow place: Inside of the wrist
• Complaints: Burning pain and numbness of the little finger and one side of the ring finger
• Sulcus ulnaris syndrome:
• Affected nerve: ulnar nerve
• Narrow place: elbow/musical bone
• Complaints: Burning pain and numbness of the little finger and one side of the ring finger

At CenterPlast Hand Surgery Saarbrücken, the specialists select the most effective and gentle treatment individually depending on the type and severity of the problem. If a splint is not sufficient and damage to the nerve has been proven by special measurements, the following surgical techniques are used:

• Open relief

The peripheral nervous system comprises the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. Peripheral nerve surgery treats the consequences of accidents such as bruising or severing of nerves as well as tumor diseases originating from nerves or constricting nerves. Many years of experience in microsurgery are a prerequisite in this area as well. The range of services offered by CenterPlast includes:

• Pressure relief of nerve bottleneck syndromes also on the lower leg
• Nerve reconstruction including nerve transplantation
• Motor replacement plastics due to tendon rearrangements

Author: Stéphane Stahl, MD, PhD. There are no financial relationships with the pharmaceutical or medical device industries that could have influenced the above text. Any reproduction, even partial, is permitted for personal use only. All texts used on this website are protected by copyright.