The pain, tingling, numbness and other discomforts of peripheral nerve disorders can often be treated successfully with physical therapy and other nonsurgical methods. But in some cases, surgery offers the best chance of lasting relief.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Nerve Surgery? The optimal patient for potential surgical treatment for peripheral nerve injury has: Pain in a specific area for more than three months that has not been relieved by other methods like physical therapy or medications.
Nerve Grafting: Patients may receive a nerve graft following a brachial plexus or traumatic nerve injury. During this procedure, your surgeon takes a healthy piece of nerve from another location on your body and uses it to reconnect the two ends of the damaged nerve.
Surgical nerve repair involves exploration of the injured nerve and removal of injured tissue or scar from the nerve endings. After that, a nerve can be directly reconnected if there is enough length on the ends to allow for a good quality repair without tension.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or naproxen sodium (Aleve), can help relieve pain. Anticonvulsants, such as gabapentin (Neurontin) and tricyclic medications such as nortriptyline (Pamelor) and amitriptyline are often used to treat nerve-related pain.
An MRI may be able help identify structural lesions that may be pressing against the nerve so the problem can be corrected before permanent nerve damage occurs. Nerve damage can usually be diagnosed based on a neurological examination and can be correlated by MRI scan findings.
Surgery times vary and can take two to five hours or more, depending on your condition and treatment as discussed with your doctor. Minimally invasive outpatient procedures won't require a hospital stay. For others, hospital stays can range from a day to a week or longer, with inpatient rehabilitation.
Nerve Transfer Success Rate
Success depends on the type and severity of your nerve injury and the skills and experience of your surgical team. Between 80% and 90% of patients with brachial plexus injuries tend to experience significant improvement after a nerve transfer.
It can be mild or severe. Nerve pain may interfere with important parts of your life such as sleep, sex, work and exercise. Many people with nerve pain become angry and frustrated, and may have anxiety and depression. CHECK YOUR SYMPTOMS — Use the Symptom Checker and find out if you need to seek medical help.
People with nerve pain feel it in different ways. For some, it's a stabbing pain in the middle of the night. For others, symptoms can include a chronic prickling, tingling, or burning they feel all day.
Some nerve-related problems do not interfere with daily life. Others get worse quickly and may lead to long-term, severe symptoms and problems. When a medical condition can be found and treated, your outlook may be excellent. But sometimes, nerve damage can be permanent, even if the cause is treated.
If the underlying cause of peripheral neuropathy isn't treated, you may be at risk of developing potentially serious complications, such as a foot ulcer that becomes infected. This can lead to gangrene (tissue death) if untreated, and in severe cases may mean the affected foot has to be amputated.
The muscle then whithers away. Thus surgical repair of motor nerves needs to happen within 12-18 months of the injury. Before sensation returns to the injured area, your limb is at risk of damage as it has no protective sensation.
Keep your foot or feet elevated as much as possible. This is especially important in the first 48 hours. IT IS IMPORTANT TO WALK AT LEAST 40 TO 50 FEET PER HOUR TO KEEP THE NERVES FROM GETTING STUCK IN SCAR TISSUE.
Anticonvulsant drugs (AEDs) that have shown promise in several include oxcarbazepine, zonisamide, topiramate, levetiracetam, and lamotrigine. These results may be due to their GABA effects. These agents are most helpful clinically in the signs and symptoms of radiculopathic and neuropathic pains and paresthesias.
The anesthesiologist will perform a nerve block before you go into the operating room. Often, she will give you a mild sedative first to relieve any anxiety and help you relax.
What's the best painkiller for nerve pain? Tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline and anti-epileptic drugs like gabapentin and pregabalin are very effective at treating nerve pain.
The destruction (also called ablation) of nerves is a method that may be used to reduce certain kinds of chronic pain by preventing transmission of pain signals. It is a safe procedure in which a portion of nerve tissue is destroyed or removed to cause an interruption in pain signals and reduce pain in that area.
Your surgeon can remove the damaged section and reconnect healthy nerve ends (nerve repair) or implant a piece of nerve from another part of your body (nerve graft). These procedures can help your nerves regrow.
The SSA considers neuropathy a disability if the condition is severe enough to cause extreme limitations in the motor function of two extremities. Alternatively, it qualifies as a disability if it results in marked limitations in mental and behavioral work-related skills.
Neurosonography. This test uses ultra high-frequency sound waves to evaluate structures of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and other structures.