Abstract:

Many victims of earthquakes experience nerve injury with dysfunction. To observe earthquake-caused nerve injuries and recovery after the earthquake in Wenchuan. Methods:Earthquake-caused nerve injuries were examined 5 to 16 weeks after the trauma and over 2 years for the injury course and nerve recovery. Type I injuries were nerve transection injuries, type II injuries were nerve compression injuries, and type III injuries exhibited no direct neurological dysfunction due to trauma. 31 patients had type I injuries involving 41 nerves, 419 had type II injuries involving 823 nerves, and 73 had type III injuries involving 150 nerves. Among the 22 patients with open-transection nerve injury, 13 had infections around the wound. Closednerve injury was associated with soft injury. With calf compartment syndrome, tibial nerves were compressed by the tendinous arch of the soleus. Surgical decompression favorably affected nerve recovery. Physiotherapy was effective for type I and II nerve injury but not much for type III nerve injury. Pharmacotherapy had little effect on type II and III nerve injury. The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) score for nerve injury severity was decreased with duration of being trapped. In the first year, the LSUHSC score for grade 3 to 5 nerve injury increased from 28.2% to 81.8%. If scores were still poor (0 or 1) after 1-year treatment, further treatment was not effective. Nerve injury in victims of earthquakes is directly related to the crush and indirectly to soft-tissue damage. Targeted decompression surgery and physiotherapy is effective for nerve transection and compression injury.

Key words: nerve regeneration, earthquake, nerve injury, LSUHSC score, compartment syndrome