SUPRASCAPULAR NERVE ENTRAPMENT

Fifty-four patients with suprascapular nerve entrapment were evaluated on an average of 5.6 years (range, 2-9 years) after surgical release. There were 32 males and 22 females. Supposed causative factor was exe rtion at work or vacation in 36 cases. Sixteen patients had an atrophy of the supraspinatus and 26 of the.infraspinatus muscle. Conduction t ime to the supraspinatus muscle was 4.5 ms (range, 2.2-14.4 ms), and t o the infraspinatus, 8.6 ms (range, 2.5-43.6 ms). The mean time from t he onset of the symptoms to surgery was 2.8 years (range, three months to 14 years). The mean age at operation was 38.4 years (range, ten to 61 years). Two patients were operated on bilaterally within two and f our years. All but two patients were operated on at the suprascapular notch. A new cranial approach is advocated. The most dramatic effect o f the operation was prompt disappearance of the pain in 24 cases and m arked diminishing in 15 cases (72%). At the follow-up evaluation, a mo derate atrophy of the supraspinatus muscle was found only in one patie nt but that of the infraspinatus in 11 patients. There were ten poor l ong-term results, some of them presumably operated on after wrong diag noses and some at a wrong region.