Obstetric Brachial Plexus Palsy: Can a Unilateral Birth Onset Peripheral Injury Significantly Affect Brain Development?
Egmar Longo, Ryota Nishiyori, Theresa Cruz and 2 others
PMID 31906763WHAT IT FOUND
In OBPP, the study did not find that brain volume differed between the hemisphere opposite the injury and the other hemisphere.
Compared with controls, OBPP had lower primary motor volume, and affected-hand reaching activated a wider cortical area.
Key findings
01Within OBPP, the study did not find that brain volume differed significantly between hemispheres.
02Compared with controls, OBPP had significantly lower primary motor volume and greater supplementary motor area asymmetry.
03Affected-hand reach-to-grasp activated a wider and stronger bilateral cortical area than unaffected-hand reach-to-grasp, while squeezing did not show side-to-side differences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Nine participants with OBPP and seven controls make the results preliminary and hard to generalize. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that OBPP caused the brain differences or that therapy would change them. Participants with OBPP had varying injury severity, and the analysis did not create severity subgroups. Within OBPP, hemisphere volume means were lower on the non-dominant side, but the study did not find a significant difference. Two OBPP participants had T2-Flair MRI instead of the T1 sequence used for others, which may affect volume comparisons. Controls did not complete the fNIRS motor tasks, so fNIRS findings are mainly within OBPP. ABILHAND-Kids was used for some participants older than the specified range.
Declared interests
The authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these imaging differences as proof that OBPP causes brain changes or that a specific therapy works. The study was small, and within OBPP the study did not find that brain volume differed between hemispheres.