The Diagnosis and Treatment of Bilateral Suprascapular Nerve Compressions

Elkwood, Andrew I.; Rose, Michael I.; Kaufman, Matthew R.; Ashinoff, Russell L.; Patel, Tushar R.; Parikh, Mona; Sunkeula, Kumar C.; Silverman, Adam T.

doi:10.1097/prs.0b013e3181f63f12

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“…Kopell and Thompson defined the symptoms caused by this type of injury as suprascapular nerve entrapment syndrome. The common presenting symptoms of entrapment are sudden onset of shoulder pain and limitation in abduction and external rotation of the shoulder joint related to trauma or following an episode of heavy lifting (Callahan et al,1991; Bayramoǧlu et al,2003; Bodily et al,2005; Elkwood et al,2010). Because mechanical irritation of the suprascapular nerve is mainly caused by kinking of the nerve against the STSL (Rengachary et al,1979), early decompression of the nerve by resection of the STSL is essential for relieving pain and restoring function (Lafosse et al,2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topographical anatomy of the suprascapular nerve and vessels at the suprascapular notch

et al. 2011

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Suprascapular nerve entrapment caused by the superior transverse scapular ligament (STSL) causes pain, and limitation of motion in the shoulder. To relieve these symptoms, suprascapular nerve decompression is performed through the resection of STSL. To describe and classify the topographic anatomy of the suprascapular notch, 103 cadaveric shoulders were dissected. The mean length and width of STSLs were 11.2 and 3.4 mm, respectively. The bony bridges replacing STSL in four shoulders were 8.2 mm long and 3.5 mm wide on average. The suprascapular nerve always ran through the notch under the STSL. All shoulders had a single suprascapular artery, while multiple suprascapular veins appeared in 21.3%. The arrangement of the suprascapular vessels was classified into three types: in Type I (59.4%), all suprascapular vessels ran over the STSL; in Type II (29.7%), the vessels ran over and under the STSL simultaneously; in Type III (10.9%), all vessels ran under the STSL. In 48.9% of cadavers, these types were bilaterally matched. The omohyoid muscle originated distantly from the STSL in 38.0%, was adjacent to it in 44.0%, and was partially over the STSL in 18.0%. The number of suprascapular vessels running under the STSL was positively correlated with the size of the STSL and the middle diameter of the suprascapular notch. Age was inversely correlated with the length of STSL. The STSL was wider in males than in females. This study provides details of the structural variations in the region of the suprascapular notch.

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