Twenty-one patients who had twenty-three brachial-plexus palsies
resulting from trauma at birth were studied over a three and one-half year
period, between July 1983 and December 1986. The incidence of this group of
injuries was 2.5 per 1,000 live births. There were fourteen palsies of the
fifth and sixth cervical nerves; eight of the fifth, sixth, and seventh
cervical nerves; and one of the entire brachial plexus. Two patients were
lost to follow-up shortly after birth. Of the remaining nineteen patients
(twenty-one palsies), fifteen (seventeen palsies) had full recovery at an
average of three months (range, two weeks to twelve months), and four (four
palsies) had residual paralysis of the upper extremity at more than
twenty-six months. We concluded that the newborn who has a brachial-plexus
palsy has a favorable prognosis for complete recovery.