Objective assessment of post-traumatic nerve repairs and neuromas

The assessment of a nerve repair usually focuses on the level of sensory an d motor recovery distal to the site of the repair. However, the development of a painful neuroma or nerve junction, particularly in a digit, can be ju st as disabling to the patient as an area of anaesthesia. An instrument has been developed to assess objectively the severity of neuroma formation at nerve-repair sites by measuring the threshold percussive force required to elicit a Tinel's sign using standard weights dropped from a uniform height in a tube. (C) 2000 The British Association of Plastic Surgeons.