Zeitschrift für Orthopädie und ihre Grenzgebiete
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Z Orthop Ihre Grenzgeb · Jan 1997
Review[Thoracic outlet syndrome--an interdisciplinary topic. Experience with diagnosis and therapy in a 15-year patient cohort (80 trans-axillary resections of the 1st rib in 67 patients) and a literature review].
Because of its wide variety of symptoms, the neurovascular compression syndrome of the upper thoracic aperture or thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) has to be distinguished from several differential diagnoses, especially orthopedic ones. It is mainly characterized by pressure lesion of the brachial plexus and secondly, by accompanying vascular damages. An indication for surgery exists in cases of persisting or increasing complaints or function loss of shoulder, arm or hand muscles as well as in cases with occurrence of vascular damage. ⋯ Our results after surgery (84.5% of complete resolution or improvement of symptoms) compare favorably to those given by other authors. The average follow-up period was 6.6 years (0.5-14 years). Our results confirm, that transaxillary resection of the first rib is the method of choice in the treatment of thoracic outlet syndromes.