Clinical spectrum, risk factors and electrophysiologic aspect of radial nerve injury

Background and objective: Radial nerve is injured due to a variety of reasons. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical spectrum, risk factors and electrophysiologic aspect of radial nerve injury presenting to a tertiary care hospital in Lahore. Methods: This descriptive prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at department of Neurology, Mayo hospital Lahore from July 2022 to December 2022 and comprised patients with isolated radial nerve injury on the basis of history and clinical examination regardless of their gender, above 15 years of age. NCS/EMG was done on a Japanese machine Nihon Kohden by an expert as per recommended protocol for electrodiagnostic evaluation of a suspected radial nerve injury and interpreted by consultant neurologist. Results: Of 75 patients, 52(69.3%) were males and 23(30.7%) were females. The most common etiology turned out to be misplaced intramuscular injection in 45(60%) of the patients. The site of lesion in most cases was in the spiral groove in 36 (40%) of the patient. Most of the patients i.e. 71(94.7%) had a wrist drop. Evidence of reinnervation was present in 30(40%) of patients. Conclusion: Most cases of radial nerve injury presented with a wrist drop in which the commonest etiology was misplaced intramuscular injection. The site of lesion in most cases turned out to at the level of spiral groove, and the nature of lesion was primarily axonal loss followed by secondary demyelination.