Controversy over the Diagnosis of Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Review Article

J Korean Assoc EMG Electrodiagn Med 2017;19(2):47-51.
Published online December 31, 2017.

Received: 1 November 2017 • Accepted: 9 November 2017

Abstract

Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a heterogeneous group of disorders arising from compression of one or more neurovascular elements from base of neck to the axilla. Many literatures consider true neurogenic and disputed TOS to be a type of neurogenic TOS. True neurogenic TOS is a rare disease with prevalence of 1 per million. True neurogenic TOS has typical clinical manifestations reflecting T1>C8 pattern of nerve fiber involvement. However, disputed TOS is poorly understood and one of most controversial pain syndrome. Many neuromuscular physicians do not accept the existence of disputed TOS, but thoracic surgeons claim that disputed TOS is under-diagnosed. In this review, we describe the characteristics of true neurogenic and disputed TOSs and discuss the controversies of disputed TOS from a skeptical view.

Key Words: brachial plexus, entrapment neuropathy, thoracic outlet syndrome

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