Arthroscopic Treatment of Suprascapular Nerve Neuropathy

Compression of SupraScapular Nerve (SSN) was first described by Thomas in 1936 (Thomas 1936). However, Thompson and Kopell described SupraScapular Nerve (SSN) entrapment occurring at the transverse scapular notch (Thompson and Kopell 1959). Aiello et al differentiated between entrapment of this nerve at the Suprascapular notch and entrapment at the Spinoglenoid notch (Aiello, Serra et al. 1982). The incidence and prevalence of this condition has not been conclusively reported. A metanalysis by Zehetgruber showed there were 88 reports of this condition from 1959 to 2001 (Zehetgruber, Noske et al. 2002). However during the past decade there have been increasing awareness of this condition, leading to a higher reporting of SupraScapular Neuropathy. The senior author (LL) was the first to report the results of Arthroscopic SupraScapular Nerve release in 2006 in a series of 10 patients with mean follow up of 15 months (Lafosse, Tomasi et al. 2007). Reported prevalence of this entity has been reported as 7%-10%. Most of the reported incidence is in overhead athletes like volleyball player, athletic population (12-33%) (Ferretti, Cerullo et al. 1987; Witvrouw, Cools et al. 2000).