[Radial nerve compression]

A new compression syndrome of the deep branch of the radial nerve is described, in which a sudden anterior displacement of a part of this nerve under maximal tension is followed by an axonotmesis. This happens in an area in which the deep branch of the radial nerve crossed some narrow structures which are unyielding and have more compression strength (tense cords of connective tissue Fig. 3). The operative finding of a torsion of the injured fascicles justifies the correctness of the immediate operative revision; otherwise the nerve regeneration would be impaired by the torted empty endoneural tubes. This description is a further constribution not observed before to the compression syndromes of the radial nerve, since in 1970 the author was able to give an explanation for the pathogenesis of compression palsies of the radial nerve, unclear up to that time but observed after forceful muscle contractions again and again since the beginning of this century. This observation gives the evidence that the occurrence of a peripheral compression lesion of nerves is not bound absolutely on the existence of a "physiological narrowness" (fibrous or osteofibrous tunnel etc.). This is also true for the median nerve.