REPAIR OF THE MOTOR BRANCH OF THE ULNAR NERVE IN THE PALM

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Abstract
A study of patients treated for paralysis due to damage to the deep motor branch of the ulnar nerve in the palm shows that repair of the nerve is a practical procedure and that recovery of function takes place. Regeneration, as evidenced by voluntary activity of the first interosseus muscle, takes place in an orderly way and is present in from three to fourteen months, depending upon the level of the injury. Direct end-to-end approximation is usually possible; but, if it is necessary, the nerve can be rerouted through the carpal tunnel to overcome a large defect. Function of the hand as an organ of expression is dependent upon the ulnar nerve. Repair and subsequent regeneration restores to the hand those motions so necessary to the artist and the skilled workman, without which, as Galen says, man could "no longer work as an artificer. . . . Neither could he follow the arts of peace, construct the pipe and lyre, erect houses, place altars, inscribe laws, and through letters and the ingenuity of the hand, hold communion with the wisdom of antiquity, at one time to converse with Plato, at another with Aristotle, or Hippocrates."

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