What are the clinical differences between radiation injury to the brachial plexus and tumor involvement of the plexus?
Although clinically similar, radiation of the brachial plexus (nerve network that supplies innervation to upper extremity and shoulder extending from spinal cord to axilla) is more likely to cause involvement of all three trunks of the plexus, whereas tumor involvement more commonly affects smaller branches of the brachial plexus and/or specific nerves (e.g., axillary, musculocutaneus, median, radial, or ulnar nerve).
