A 45-year-old man came into the ER for a stab wound to his arm. He was attacked with a knife and he raised his arm to protect himself, resulting in a stab wound to his left forearm. On examination, he had a claw hand deformity and was unable to move his fingers from side to side. He also had numbness over his ring finger and little finger. He was immediately brought to the OR for surgery. 

During the operation, the patient’s ulnar nerve was found to be cut. The ulnar nerve is one of the nerves supplying the hand and fingers, which is why he had weakness and numbness in his fingers. Since it was a clean cut, the ends were stitched back together using very fine sutures. 

After the surgery, the patient’s weakness and numbness remained the same, as expected. It would take at least several months for the nerve to regenerate and for the patient to show any clinical improvement.