ABSTRACT

The compression of the brachial plexus and subclavian circulatory elements at the cervicoaxillar canal is called the thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). Among the ethological reasons, congenital fibromuscular osseous anomalies lead the top. Electrophysiological study of the upper nerves is single most dependable diagnostic test.

In out clinic between the years 2008 and 2014, 10 patients were diagnosed with TOS. The average age of the patients were 46.2 (36-64), with 5 of them being women and the remaining 5 men. The average length of the symptoms was 14 months (8-36). 4 of the patients were undergone operation with transaxillary approach and the other 4 with supraclavicular approach for decompression of the brachial plexus. All of the patients were evaluated using the VAS score.

Solitary scalenectomy was done on one patient, single cervical cot resection was done to 4 of the patients and both scalenectomy and cot resection was done to 3 patients. No major complications or recurrence were observed on the patients. The average preoperative VAS score of the patients were 6.3 (5-8) lowered to an average of 2.1 (1-5) after the surgical intervention.

The previous articles reported benefit results from both surgical and non-surgical methods. We believe that a treatment plan should be worked on for every patient starting with non-surgical treatment, going with the surgical way on recurrent cases.