Compression of the Suprascapular Nerve After Fracture of the Scapular Notch

Abstract

A 32-year-old man with a fracture of the scapular notch associated with a lesion of the suprascapular nerve is reported. A nerve decompression operation was performed 20 months after the injury with relief of pain. The possibility that residual disability following a fracture of the scapula can be due to a lesion of the suprascapular nerve is underlined. The value of X-ray examination with projections visualizing the notch and diagnostic local anaesthetic block of the nerve passing through the notch are emphasized. Primary wide resection of the scapular notch is a preferable procedure preventing recurrence of nerve compression symptoms.

Proposal for classification of the suprascapular notch: A study on 423 dried scapulas

“…Kopell and Thompson (1959) originally described SN entrapment syndrome at the SSN. Many causes and conditions have since been correlated with neuropathy of the SN, such as fractures of the scapula (Edeland and Zachrisson, 1975;Solheim and Roaas, 1978;Antoniadis et al, 1996), blunt trauma to the shoulder region (Rengachary et al, 1979b;Antoniadis et al, 1996), anterior glenohumeral dislocation (Zoltan, 1979), ganglion cysts (Antoniadis et al, 1996;Rochwerger et al, 1996), lipomas (Hazrati et al, 2003), and other tumors (Fritz et al, 1992). There have also been reports of anomalous passage of the suprascapular artery through the SSN (Tubbs et al, 2003), a hypertrophied subscapularis muscle covering the anterior surface of the SSN (Bayramoglu et al, 2002), angular changes of the superior transverse scapular ligament (STSL) due to the attachment of the omohyoid muscle to the ligament (Bayramoglu et al, 2003), and increased tension on the SN due to retraction of the rotator cuff after a massive tear (Albritton et al, 2003).…”

Les neuropathies du nerf suprascapulaire

“…Parmi les autres causes de lésions du nerf supra-scapulaire, on retrouve la fracture de l'omoplate [26][27][28], une fracture proximale de l'humérus, une chirurgie nécessitant une approche postérieure de la scapula [29] et une luxation gléno-humérale (de 2 à 35 % des cas) [18,30] secondaire à une lésion intimale de l'artère suprascapulaire, entraînant des micro-embolies au niveau de vaso nervorum [21,[31][32][33][34].…”

Rare mononeuropathies of the upper limb in bodybuilders

“…This nerve may be acutely damaged as a result of trauma, with or without fracture of the shoulder. 10,39 It is less often damaged by stretching due to forced forward rotation of the scapula around the chest wall, or it may be chronically compressed by a bone callous, gangliar or synovial cyst, and hypertrophy of the upper or lower transverse scapular ligaments. In the latter case, only the infraspinatus muscle is affected.…”