Sensory loss caused by direct trauma to a cutaneous nerve is a common complaint after
penetrating trauma. Evaluation of the loss is important and often dictates a decision
to refer a patient to another unit for exploration and microsurgical repair. Although
the use of modalities such as two-point discrimination and threshold testing with
monofilament hairs are well established for the assessment of sensation in the hand,
they are not readily applicable to more proximal nerve territories. Evaluation of
sensibility is critical to management and treatment of the nerve-injured patient.
Although the validity and inter-observer reliability of two-point discrimination in
the fingertip has been proven, there is no validated test for proximal nerve injuries
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References
- Reliability of two-point discrimination measurements.J Hand Surg Am. 1987; 12: 693-696
- A comparison of cold, pinprick and touch for assessing the level of spinal block at caesarean section.Int J Obstet Anesth. 2004; 13: 146-152
- A comparison of the Neuropen against standard quantitative sensory-threshold measures for assessing peripheral nerve function.Diabet Med. 2002; 19: 400-405
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 14, 2009
Identification
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© 2011 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
