RESUMEN
PURPOSE: To translate and investigate inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, content validity, and construct validity of the Brazilian-Portuguese Version of the Brachial Plexus Outcome Measure Scale (BPOM-Br). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The translation followed international guidelines. Inter-rater reliability was tested with 51 individuals with Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy (NBPP), aged between 4 to 16 years old. To determine concurrent construct validity, children were also assessed with the Mallet Scale. Statistical analysis included Bland-Altman, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Floor and Ceiling and effect, and Pearson correlation. RESULTS: The majority of the sample consisted of children with upper NBPP (75.2%), mean age of 8.9 years old. BPOM-Br showed appropriate content validity (comprehensiveness) according to rehabilitation professionals. It also showed excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.90) and internal consistency (α = 0.91). Bland-Altman analysis showed bias close to zero. Finally, BPOM-Br showed overall significant positive correlations with the Mallet scale items (rs= 0.31 to 0.78 p < 0.05), indicating adequate concurrent validity. CONCLUSIONS: BPOM-Br is a consistent, reliable, and valid instrument to assess activity of school-aged children with NBPP.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONThe Brazilian-Portuguese Version of the Brachial Plexus Outcome Measure Scale (BPOM-Br) presents understandable items and no ceiling and floor effects.The BPOM-Br provides a valid and reliable version for use in Brazilian school-aged children with neonatal brachial plexus palsy.It is important to promote its use both in clinical practice and in research as a specific evaluation of activity domain.
RESUMEN
PURPOSE: Most cases of obstetric brachial plexus palsy (OBPP) involve C5 and C6 nerve roots (Erb's palsy). In those cases, re-establishing the elbow flexion is the primary goal of surgery. The partial transfer of the ulnar nerve to the musculocutaneous nerve (Oberlin's procedure) is widely used in adults, but incipient in children. The purpose of this study is to describe the results obtained with such procedure as regards the improvement of the elbow flexion and donor nerve morbidity. METHOD: Thirteen children aged 9 to 15 months underwent Oberlin's procedure. They were assessed preoperatively and 1 year postoperatively using the active movement scale and also according to the functionality of the affected limb. All of them were evaluated because of the possibility of movement loss resulting from the donor nerve. We used the non-parametric, statistic Wilcoxon signed rank test (α = 0,05) method. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in the active elbow flexion between pre- and postoperative periods. Eleven children presented functional improvement. All of them maintained negative cookie test 1 year after the surgery. We did not observe any loss related to the donor nerve in terms of wrist flexion. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that Oberlin's procedure can be an effective and safe alternative to treat elbow flexion in Erb's palsy.
