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Background: The Kapandji scale has 10 levels and includes abduction, rotation and flexion movements. Assessing children with thumb hypoplasia, this scale is poorly understood and confusing. The objective of the study is to evaluate an opposition scale simpler and understandable for children. Methods: It is a validation study of a simplified scale to qualify the opposition of the thumb, in order to asses only the abduction - rotation but not the flexion of the metacarpo-phalangeal (MP) or interphalangeal (IF) joint. The proposed classification goes from 0 to 3 degrees, where 0: No opposition, 1: The thumb touches the middle phalanx of the 2nd finger, 2: the thumb touches the pulp of the 2nd finger and 3: the thumb touches the pulp of the 5th finger. 10 patients with thumb hypoplasia were analyzed by 9 hand surgeons and 9 orthopedic surgeons. Results: The intraclass correlation coefficient shows a very good inter-observer reliability with a kappa of 0.991 (p = 0.000). When correlated by groups, the finding were very good between the hand surgeons group k = 0.980 (p = 0.000) and the orthopedic surgeons group 0.974 (p = 0.000). At 6 weeks a new evaluation was made, the intra-observer reliability was excellent k = 0.995 (p = 0.000). Conclusions: The proposed scale for the evaluation of the abductionrotation of the thumb is validated and useful in the evaluation of the results of a thumb opposition transfer with a good inter-observer and intra-observer reliability between orthopedic and hand surgeons.

Tesis o trabajo de investigación presentada(o) como requisito parcial para optar al título de:Especialista en Ortopedia y traumatología

Upper brachial plexus injury or isolated lesions of the axillary nerve (AN) compromise shoulder functionality significantly. Different surgical techniques have been described for selective reconstruction of the AN, with good results especially in association with repair of the suprascapular nerve. The objective of this study is to describe the transfer of motor fascicles of the median nerve to the AN by an axillary approach in cadavers and the clinical results in 2 patients. Dissections were performed on 5 cadavers, followed by identification and dissection of the AN and its divisions before entering the quadrangular space. We standardized the surgical technique in which the median nerve was first identified and then an intrafascicular dissection was performed. Then we harvested a fascicle and transferred it to the anterolateral branch of the AN. Two patients underwent an operation; at 2 years of follow-up, average abduction of 125 degrees and external rotation of 95 degrees were observed. In conclusion, the transfer of motor fascicles of the median nerve to the AN by an axillary approach could be an alternative technique for the deltoid reinnervation in upper brachial plexus injury. Some advantages are the proximity of the donor nerve to the receptor nerve and the low morbidity of the target muscles of the donor nerve. Studies with a larger number of patients are required to establish its effectiveness compared with other techniques already described.