Dr. Nishant Sharma

Hello, everyone. I am Dr Anubhav Gupta. I am a consultant cosmetic surgeon at Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi.

Today I am going to discuss the nerve and brachial plexus injury.

What is nerve Injury?

In our body, from the brain to all other parts there is a network of nerves which sends the signal and tell us what to do. So if there is any injury in the network of filaments called nerves, then it is called as nerve injury.

What is Brachial Plexus?

A brachial plexus is a group of nerves which helps our hands to function. It starts from the spinal cord through the shoulder to the arm and to the hand. If there is any particular part which damages the neck that is called as Brachial plexus injury.

How long should I wait before being evaluated by my physician after the injury?

Whenever this nerve injury happens, these are the closed injuries. You will not see anything on the surface but you may have paralysed or weakness of a particular part. So as soon as the weakness, there is some numbness or there is paralysis of any part of the body. You should immediately contact your plastic surgeon.

Can a Brachial plexus injury be treated?

If you would have asked this question 20 years ago, then I would have said NO. But now, it is possible to treat them and with very good results.

What will happen if I do not take any treatment?

See what happens is, all the muscles in the body are innervated. If there is any injury in the nerves then it will cause weakness and ultimately paralysis of these muscles. Now, these muscles become paralyse then all these joints become stiff. S it is like a machinery if the current is not going then ultimately you will end up with that particular part of body useless.

How long does it take to after the nerve surgery for the function to return?

This is a very good question. Most patients do not realize. Basically, it is a scientific fact that whenever we have an injury to a nerve. Let us say suppose there is an injury to this level, then the part which is distilled to this becomes degenerated. When we repair, when we do the surgery, it gradually moves. It moves with the speed of 1mm per day after a latent period of 1 month. So approximately 2.5 cm (1 inch) per month. So it takes few months to function. Immediately after the surgery, you cannot expect the movement of the hand. It takes some time and it is scientifically calculated that how it comes.

If you have any queries related to nerve issues, you can contact me through Lybrate.

I’m Dr  Ashok Sarin, a senior consultant nephrologist at Apollo Hospital New Delhi. I trained in Kidney Diseases at the Belfast City and Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, UK, which is in Northern Ireland. And besides having an MBA I’m also FRCP, Edenborough, fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edenborough.

We see a lot of kidney diseases today, and people are very aware. But they get very worried as to what is happening, and there is going to be kidney failure, or kidney damage, and we are going to go on dialysis and transplant. And I want to say here, that there is a lot of prevention we can do so that we do not develop serious kidney diseases. Now the most important is that we must have a good, proper lifestyle. Like,

• We should not be obese.
• We should not have a diet which is rich in saturated fats or very rich in carbohydrate.
• We should maintain our weight, we should maintain our BMI at about 30, and we should also indulge in regular exercise.

This will keep us in a healthy situation and we will not develop serious diseases like diabetes and hypertension. But once we develop diabetes and hypertension, then we must take our treatment for diabetes very regularly, and keep our HPE1C at 6 percent, a fasting sugar of 100 milligrams percent. We should also control our hypertension, and make sure that our blood pressure is 120 by 80 millimetres of mercury. Then we should avoid smoking. As I said we should indulge in exercise.

And there are other conditions which can also cause kidney damage, which is kidney stones, urine tract infection.

So if we treat our kidney stones adequately, and avoid urinary tract infection from developing, or we treat it properly, then we are unlikely to have kidney damage, and that is how we prevent kidney disease. As I said, smoking is a complete no-no, and we should not indulge socially sometimes, but over indulgence of alcohol is forbidden. And when I said that regular medical checkups, say once a year, we will come to know if there is any indication of kidney disease, and if that happens, then we can take prompt action. For example, somebody is excreting a lot of protein, then remedial actions or further tests can be done. And kidney disease, if detected early, we have a wide range of medication at the moment, it can be treated very promptly. And we do not have to go into the stage where we say kidney failure or kidney damage, or dialysis or transplant. Now this is avoidable to a great extent. I will not say completely, but to a great extent it is possible, and that is why I am emphasizing over and over again, that this can be prevented. If we are very aware of kidney disease, and we make sure that we don’t develop kidney diseases at all.

Thank you, and in case you want to consult me, you could get in touch with Lybrate

. Thank you very much indeed.