BACKGROUND Root avulsion to all 5 roots of the brachial plexus is a common presentation and keeps a major reconstructive challenge. The contralateral C7 (CC7) nerve transfer has been used in treating brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) since 1986. However, the effectiveness of the procedure remains a subject of controversy. The aim of this meta-analysis was to study surgical outcomes regarding motor and sensory recovery after CC7 nerve transfer. METHODS Chinese or English (i.e., "contralateral c-7", "contralateral c7", "c7 nerve root", and "seventh cervical nerve root") keywords were used for a literature search for articles related to CC7 nerve transfer in several databases (i.e., PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, CNKI, CQVIP, and Wanfang Data). Clinical research articles were screened, and animal studies as well as duplicate publications were excluded. Muscle strength and sensory recovery were considered to be effective only when the scores on the United Kingdom Medical Research Council scale were equal to or higher than M3 and S3, respectively. RESULTS The overall ipsilateral recipient nerve recovery rates were as follows: the efficiency rate for muscle strength recovery after CC7 nerve transfer was 0.57 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.48-0.66) and for sensory recovery was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.46-0.58). When the recipient nerve was the median nerve, the efficiency rate for muscle strength recovery was 0.50 (95% CI: 0.39-0.61) and for sensory was 0.56 (95% CI: 0.50-0.63). When the recipient nerve was the musculocutaneous nerve and the radial nerve, the efficiency rate for muscle strength recovery was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.65-0.82) and 0.50 (95% CI: 0.31-0.70), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Transfer of CC7 nerves to musculocutaneous nerves leads to the best results. CC7 is a reliable donor nerve, which can be safely used for upper limb function reconstruction, especially for entirely BPAI. When modifying procedures, musculocutaneous nerves and median nerve can be combined as recipient nerves.

中文翻译：

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对侧C7神经根转移对成人功能的恢复：一项荟萃分析。

背景技术臂丛神经的所有5根根部撕脱是一种常见表现，并且仍然是主要的重建挑战。自1986年以来，对侧C7（CC7）神经转移已用于治疗臂丛神经撕脱伤（BPAI）。但是，该手术的有效性仍是一个有争议的话题。这项荟萃分析的目的是研究CC7神经转移后有关运动和感觉恢复的手术结果。方法使用中文或英文（即“对侧c-7”，“对侧c7”，“ c7神经根”和“第七颈神经根”）关键字在多个数据库中检索与CC7神经转移相关的文章。 （即PubMed，Cochrane，Embase，CNKI，CQVIP和Wanfang Data）。筛选了临床研究文章，排除动物研究以及重复出版物。仅当英国医学研究理事会量表的分数分别等于或高于M3和S3时，才认为肌肉力量和感觉恢复有效。结果总的同侧受体神经恢复率如下：CC7神经转移后肌肉力量恢复的效率为0.57（95％置信区间[CI]：0.48-0.66），感觉恢复的效率为0.52（95％CI：0.46）。 -0.58）。当接受神经为正中神经时，肌肉力量恢复的效率为0.50（95％CI：0.39-0.61），感觉的效率为0.56（95％CI：0.50-0.63）。当受者神经为肌皮神经和the神经时，肌肉力量恢复的效率为0.74（95％CI：0.65-0.82）和0。50（95％CI：0.31-0.70）。结论将CC7神经转移到肌肉皮肤神经可获得最佳结果。CC7是可靠的供体神经，可以安全地用于上肢功能重建，尤其是完全BPAI。修改程序时，可以将肌皮神经和正中神经合并为受体神经。