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The cost of brachial plexus repair and surgery depends on when and how the repair is done. If the child has the defect at birth and it does not recover by the fourth month, then the surgeon has to step in and do the needful. Sometimes gentle massaging, warm water wraps and other treatments may make the child recover from brachial plexus damage. In such cases the cost is very minimal. But if all these normal methods fail, and the surgeon has to be called for a surgical procedure naturally the cost will be higher.
There may also be the physiotherapist’s charges, which will be included in the price of brachial plexus surgery. Again it depends on the surgeon and his fees, the cost of the anesthesia used, the post operative and preoperative charges, hospitalization, medicine charges and the like. It is rather difficult to exactly pinpoint the cost of a brachial plexus repair. Generally it would be in the range of $ 1500 to $ 5000. Some surgeons and hospitals offer discounts for the surgery, some do it at a minimal cost.
Brachial plexus injury is often the result of a difficult birth. The stretching of the arms during a difficult labor may cause injury to the brachial plexus resulting in the damage. The group of nerves arising from the spinal cord is affected and the baby’s arms may not have proper movement or actions. In most cases, the problem gets solved as the baby grows up and by the time the baby is about four months old, the problem would have been overcome without any difficulty. It would be a natural recovery.
However if brachial plexus is damaged due to an accident, or age or some disease, then surgery may be the only option. The surgeon has to be researched and only a suitable one has to be consulted. The cost of the brachial plexus repair begins from the time the surgeon is consulted. His fees, the number of consultations will naturally be charged. On the day of the procedure or even before it, the medical tests will be done to find out the exact damage and these too will be charged. The cost of anesthesia, the hospital charges etc have to be found out in advance before undergoing surgery.
If an accident has caused severe deformity in the brachial plexus, the surgeon will have a tough time repairing it. The operation may last for about twenty hours or so and the corresponding fee can be as high as $ 50,000. However the good news is that brachial plexus surgery in newborn babies generally gives a good result and the patient’s family will definitely feel that the cost of the surgery has been worth it.
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