Early and Late Outcomes of Surgery for Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in Adolescents

Neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome is a condition that is both complex to diagnose and manage successfully. The aim of our study was to present our experience and outcomes of surgical management of thoracic outlet syndrome in adolescents.

We performed a retrospective analysis of a prospectively held database of consecutive adolescents (age 10-19 years) who underwent surgery for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome between 2005 and 2017 at our university hospital.

Fourteen patients were identified (19 operations), with a mean age of 16.5 years (SD: 1.9). All patients had symptomatic relief with surgery with low complication rates (1 pneumothorax). Median hospital stay was 2 days (IQR: 1). There were no early recurrences but 5 late ones which occurred 2, 2.5, 3, 4 and 10 years after surgery (20%). None required a second procedure and were managed successfully with physiotherapy.

Surgical intervention for thoracic outlet syndrome in the adolescent population results in excellent outcomes in the short term. However, we found that recurrence of symptoms in this population is common and patients need to be counseled clearly about this prior to surgical intervention. However in our experience these do not require further surgery.