ARTHROSCOPIC DECOMPRESSION OF A GANGLION CYST CAUSING SUPRASCAPULAR NERVE COMPRESSION

Ganglion cysts causing suprascapular nerve compression are an uncommon cause of suprascapular nerve compression. The advent of magnetic reso nance imaging (MRI) and its application in patients with shoulder pain has improved the ability to diagnose cystic lesions causing extrinsic compression of the suprascapular nerve, Traditionally, treatment of s uprascapular nerve compression by a ganglion cyst has required open cy st excision through either a deltoid and infraspinatus muscle takedown or a muscle splitting approach. We present three cases of suprascapul ar nerve compression by a ganglion cyst in which the cyst was decompre ssed arthroscopically, In each case the patient's symptoms resolved af ter arthroscopic cyst decompression, and a postoperative MRI does not demonstrate reaccumulation of the cyst fluid. Arthroscopic ganglion cy st decompression is a well-tolerated approach to this problem that avo ids the morbidity of an open surgical procedure. The absence of recurr ent cyst formation combined with resolution of the symptoms attests to the success of this method.