Pain and brachial plexus lesions: evaluation of initial outcomes after reconstructive microsurgery and validation of a new pain severity scale.

Background: Peripheral nerve lesions usually are associated with neuropathic pain. In the present paper, we describe a simple scale to quantify pain after brachial plexus injuries and apply this scale to a series of patients to determine initial outcomes after reconstructive surgery.

Methods: Fifty-one patients with traumatic brachial plexus avulsion injuries were treated over the period of one calendar year at one center by the same surgical team.