Brachial-plexus palsy in the newborn.

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.