Isolated long thoracic nerve paralysis - a rare complication of anterior spinal surgery: a case report
Isolated long thoracic nerve paralysis - a rare complication of anterior spinal surgery: a case report
Journal of Medical Case Reports 2009, 3:7366
Published: August 2009
Published: August 2009
Introduction: Isolated long thoracic nerve injury causes paralysis of the serratus anterior muscle. Patients with serratus anterior palsy may present with periscapular pain, weakness, limitation of shoulder elevation and scapular winging.
Case presentation: We present the case of a 23-year-old woman who sustained isolated long thoracic nerve palsy during anterior spinal surgery which caused external compressive force on the nerve.
Conclusion: During positioning of patients into the lateral decubitus position, the course of the long thoracic nerve must be attended to carefully and the nerve should be protected from any external pressure.
Introduction
Isolated long thoracic nerve paralysis causes weakness of the serratus anterior muscle and winging of the scapula [1,2]. The normal function of the serratus anterior muscle is to maintain the scapula in apposition to the thorax when the arm is elevated forward at the shoulder [1]. Paralysis of the serratus anterior muscle causes the scapula to rotate posteriorly on its vertical axis, producing the characteristic appearance of winging of the scapula [1,2]. So far, several traumatic and non-traumatic causes of damage to the long thoracic nerve have been reported [3,4]. We present a patient with long thoracic nerve palsy caused by the direct compression of the nerve during anterior spinal surgery. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case report of this complication in the literature.
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