[Nerve lesions after acute anterior dislocation of the humero-scapular joint--electrodiagnostic study]

We present a pilot seria of 18 patients with acute anterior dislocation of the shoulder joint following simple trauma. All the patients underwent conservative treatment using a standard Kocher technique. In the majority of cases muscular spasm and pain rendered through neurological examination difficult to perform. All patients were, therefore, submitted to extensive electrodiagnostic procedure which revealed a nerve injury on half of them. Such high incidence was, probably, due to the increased age (17 out 18 patients were over 40 years old), and rather traumatic reduction procedure. The axillary nerve was the most frequently affected (38.8%), either alone or in combination with musculocutaneus nerve. Comparing to previous reports in the literature, we found musculocutaneus nerve lesion in a rather high number of patients (22%). Extensive electrodiagnostic study is therefore recommended when further treatment and prognosis of anterior dislocation of the shoulder are taken in consideration.