Surgical Outcomes of Schwannoma Occurred at the Brachial Plexus

Lee,  Hyuk Jin; Lee,  Young Ho; Gong,  Hyun Sik; Rhee,  Seung Hwan; Lee,  Joon Oh; Roh,  Young Hak; Kim,  Kang Wook; Baek,  Goo Hyun

doi:2010.19.1.1

Arch Hand Microsurg > Volume 19(1); 2010 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society for Surgery of the Hand 2010;19(1):1-6.
Published online May 31, 2010.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12790/jkssh.2010.19.1.1

Surgical Outcomes of Schwannoma Occurred at the Brachial Plexus

Hyuk Jin Lee, M.D., Young Ho Lee, M.D., Hyun Sik Gong, M.D., Seung Hwan Rhee, M.D.,<br>Joon Oh Lee, M.D., Young Hak Roh, M.D., Kang Wook Kim, M.D., Goo Hyun Baek, M.D.

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. ghbaek@snu.ac.kr

상완 신경총에 발생한 신경초종의 수술적 치료 결과

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Abstract

Schwannoma of the brachial plexus region is very rare. There has not been general agreement in terms of surgical outcome from limited number of studies. We analyzed surgical outcomes from 11 cases of schwannomas which occurred in the brachial plexus. From February 2000 to August 2009, 11 patients with schwannomas of the brachial plexus region were surgically treated by a single surgeon. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and MRI of our cases, and evaluated the neurologic deficit and the recurrence of tumors after surgery. All the cases were proven histologically as schwannomas. The mean age of the patients was 52.6(36~67) years old, 4 of them were male and 7 were female. The tumor was located in the left side in 9 patients, and right in 2. The mean postoperative follow-up was 24.7(6~78) months. Initial presentation was usually painless, palpable mass. The mass was located in various level of the brachial plexus such as root, trunk, cord, or terminal branch level. The size of mass was from 1.5×1.5 ×0.5 cm to 11.0×10.0×6.0 cm. Eight of 11 patients showed no neurologic deficit. Three patients showed postoperative neurologic deficit; two of them had transient sensory deficit, and one of them had weakness of flexor pollicis longus and 2nd flexor digitorum profundus. There were no recurrences. The schwannoma of the brachial plexus region should be considered as a curable lesion with an acceptable surgical risk of injury to neurovascular structures. With precise surgical techniques, these tumors can be removed to improve patient’s symptoms with minimal morbidity.

Key Words: Schwannoma, Brachial plexus, Surgical outcome