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Functional Restoration of Diaphragmatic Paralysis: An Evaluation of Phrenic Nerve Reconstruction

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

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Source

Source Name: Annals of Thoracic Surgery

Source URL: http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975%2813%2902139-5/abstract

Author(s)

Matthew R. Kaufman, Andrew I. Elkwood, Alan R. Colicchio, John CeCe, Reza Jarrahy, Lourens J. Willekes, Michael I. Rose, David Brown

Unilateral diaphragm dysfunction can result from phrenic nerve injury and often results in respiratory symptoms. This study evaluated 92 pts for the presence of residual nerve activity and assigned them to phrenic nerve restorative surgery (PS) or no intervention, while a set of patients who underwent diaphragm plication (DP) was culled from the literature for comparison. Improvements in spirometry were similar in the PS and DP groups (13-14% vs 16-17%). Nerve conduction and signal strength were substantially improved by PS. There was a 28% improvement in function in the PS group based on SF-36.