RESUMEN
Objective To explore the etiology and treatmen t of radial nerve injury following in ternal fixa-tion for humeral shaft fracture.Methods 15patients were treated in our department from 1997to 2003for radial nerve injury following steal-plate internal fixation.They were selected for this study and followed up from6to 18months.Their injury cause,clinica l manifestation,methods of treatme nt,diagnosis and prognosis were retrospec-tively analyzed.Results The symptoms of nerve injury disappeared in all patients.Their muscle strength of wrist and digit extension returned to grad e V.The electromyogram showed that t heir nerve conduction velocity and l atent period returned to normal.Conclusions Excessive traction,careless manip ulation and steel plate compression are the main causes for iatrogenic radia l nerve injury.The nerve function can be completely recovered with early diag-nosis and early neurolysis.[