Cytosolic androgen receptor in regenerating rat levator ani muscle
Short Accessory nerve palsy - BMJ · the posterior triangle of the neck, lying on the levator...
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Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 1977, 40, 1113-1116 Short report Accessory nerve palsy MARCELO OLARTE AND DAVID ADAMS From the H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy and Related Diseases, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the Neurological Institute, Presbyterian Hospital, New York, USA S U M M A R Y After apparently uncomplicated excision of benign lesions in the posterior cervical triangle, two patients had shoulder pain. In one, neck pain and trapezius weakness were not prominent until one month after surgery. Inability to elevate the arm above the horizontal without externally rotating it, and prominent scapular displacement on arm abduction, but not on forward pushing movements, highlighted the trapezius dysfunction and differentiated it from serratus anterior weakness. Spinal accessory nerve lesions should be considered when minor surgical procedures, lymphadenitis, minor trauma, or tumours involve the posterior triangle of the neck. Some clinical disorders of the accessory nerve are well described in standard texts (Haymaker and Woodhall, 1963; DeJong, 1967; Warwick and Williams, 1973; Baker, 1975) and case reports (Handord, 1933; Norden, 1956), but are still mis- diagnosed with inordinate frequency. Within a few months, we saw two patients who were referred for evaluation of slowly progressive painful 'shoulder girdle' weakness and wasting thought to be a generalised neuromuscular disorder. Both had incurred traumatic lesions of the spinal accessory nerve during surgical procedures. Case 1 A 62 year old lawyer noted a soft, painless mass in the apex of the posterior triangle of the neck for 10 years. The mass was removed under local anaesthesia and proved to be a lipoma. The opera- tion and recovery period were apparently uncom- plicated. One week after surgery, he had difficulty lifting the left arm to take off clothing, and the shoulder seemed to protrude. Pain in the neck and shoulder was aggravated by raising the arm and relieved by resting the arm on his hip. Despite the pain and weakness he was able to swim during the summer. There were no paraesthesias, weak- ness of hand or forearm muscles, neck pain, or Supported by Center Grants from NINCDS (NS-1 1766) and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Address for reprint requests: Dr M. Olarte, Department of Neurology' College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA. Accepted 27 June 1977 sphincter symptoms. There was no relevant previ- ous medical history, and no family history of neuromuscular disease. Six months after surgery, general physical exam- ination was normal. No neck mass was palpable; the operative scar had healed. There was slight wasting of the trapezius and the left supraclavi- cular fossa appeared deeper than the right. With arms dependent, the left elbow protruded more laterally than the right (Fig. 1), and there was slight winging and lateral displacement of the left scapula; this was more pronounced when the arm was abducted to shoulder level and, when this was done, the medial border of the left scapula rotated much further laterally than the right. Elevation of the left shoulder against resist- ance was good but backward movement against resistance was impaired. Starting with palms against his thighs he could abduct the right arm overhead without rotating the palm. On the left, he could do this but had to work harder, and the arm tended to twist so that the palm faced forward. Other scapular muscles were strong. No fasciculations were seen, but the direct response to percussion was more vigorous in the left trapezius than the right. Neurological examination was otherwise normal. Results of urinalysis, haemogram, and blood chemistry were normal, as were radiographs of the skull base, cervical spine, chest, left shoulder, and left lung apex. Maximum motor nerve con- duction velocities of the left ulnar and median nerves were normal at 57.9 and 56.6 m/s. Distal sensory latency of the left median nerve was nor- 113 G guest. Protected by copyright. on November 26, 2020 by http://jnnp.bmj.com/ J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp.40.11.1113 on 1 November 1977. Downloaded from
Transcript of Short Accessory nerve palsy - BMJ · the posterior triangle of the neck, lying on the levator...
Journal ofNeurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 1977, 40, 1113-1116
Short report
Accessory nerve palsyMARCELO OLARTE AND DAVID ADAMS
From the H. Houston Merritt Clinical Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy and Related Diseases,College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the Neurological Institute, PresbyterianHospital, New York, USA
S UMMA R Y After apparently uncomplicated excision of benign lesions in the posterior cervicaltriangle, two patients had shoulder pain. In one, neck pain and trapezius weakness were notprominent until one month after surgery. Inability to elevate the arm above the horizontalwithout externally rotating it, and prominent scapular displacement on arm abduction, but noton forward pushing movements, highlighted the trapezius dysfunction and differentiated it fromserratus anterior weakness. Spinal accessory nerve lesions should be considered when minorsurgical procedures, lymphadenitis, minor trauma, or tumours involve the posterior triangle ofthe neck.
Some clinical disorders of the accessory nerve arewell described in standard texts (Haymaker andWoodhall, 1963; DeJong, 1967; Warwick andWilliams, 1973; Baker, 1975) and case reports(Handord, 1933; Norden, 1956), but are still mis-diagnosed with inordinate frequency. Within a fewmonths, we saw two patients who were referredfor evaluation of slowly progressive painful'shoulder girdle' weakness and wasting thought tobe a generalised neuromuscular disorder. Both hadincurred traumatic lesions of the spinal accessorynerve during surgical procedures.
Case 1
A 62 year old lawyer noted a soft, painless massin the apex of the posterior triangle of the neckfor 10 years. The mass was removed under localanaesthesia and proved to be a lipoma. The opera-tion and recovery period were apparently uncom-plicated. One week after surgery, he had difficultylifting the left arm to take off clothing, and theshoulder seemed to protrude. Pain in the neckand shoulder was aggravated by raising the armand relieved by resting the arm on his hip. Despitethe pain and weakness he was able to swim duringthe summer. There were no paraesthesias, weak-ness of hand or forearm muscles, neck pain, or
Supported by Center Grants from NINCDS (NS-1 1766) and theMuscular Dystrophy Association.Address for reprint requests: Dr M. Olarte, Department of Neurology'College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, 630 West168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.Accepted 27 June 1977
sphincter symptoms. There was no relevant previ-ous medical history, and no family history ofneuromuscular disease.
Six months after surgery, general physical exam-ination was normal. No neck mass was palpable;the operative scar had healed. There was slightwasting of the trapezius and the left supraclavi-cular fossa appeared deeper than the right. Witharms dependent, the left elbow protruded morelaterally than the right (Fig. 1), and there wasslight winging and lateral displacement of theleft scapula; this was more pronounced when thearm was abducted to shoulder level and, whenthis was done, the medial border of the leftscapula rotated much further laterally than theright. Elevation of the left shoulder against resist-ance was good but backward movement againstresistance was impaired. Starting with palmsagainst his thighs he could abduct the rightarm overhead without rotating the palm. On theleft, he could do this but had to work harder, andthe arm tended to twist so that the palm facedforward. Other scapular muscles were strong. Nofasciculations were seen, but the direct response topercussion was more vigorous in the left trapeziusthan the right. Neurological examination wasotherwise normal.
Results of urinalysis, haemogram, and bloodchemistry were normal, as were radiographs ofthe skull base, cervical spine, chest, left shoulder,and left lung apex. Maximum motor nerve con-duction velocities of the left ulnar and mediannerves were normal at 57.9 and 56.6 m/s. Distalsensory latency of the left median nerve was nor-
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Marcelo Olarte and David Adams
Fig. 1 Arms dependent, posterior view: wasting ofleft trapezius and lateral protusion of left elbow are
visible.
mal at 3.2 ms but prolonged at 3.3 ms in the leftulnar nerve. Latencies of the accessory nerves
were not determined. Monopolar needle electro-myography of the left trapezius muscle showedpositive waves and fibrillations. Motor unit poten-tials under voluntary control were reduced in num-ber, of increased duration and amplitude, andcomplex and polyphasic. Other muscles tested, in-cluding supraspinatus, infraspinatus, rhomboid,serratus anterior, biceps, and triceps were normal.
Case 2
At age 41 years, this woman noticed a painlessmass in the right posterior triangle of her neck.This was removed at another medical centre andwas reported to be lymphadenitis. The operationwas apparently uneventful. Three weeks later, theright clavicle seemed unusually prominent, and theright arm and shoulder began to hurt. The painwas not present on awakening but appeared andbecame more severe as the day went on. It was notrelated to posture or physical activity, and couldnot be relieved by change of position. She had no
weakness, paraesthesias, or neck pain. There wasno relevant medical or family history.At age 44 years, the right clavicle was more
prominent and the right shoulder lower than theleft. There was winging of the right scapula, whichwas more pronounced with arms dependent anddisappeared when the arms were raised to theforward horizontal position (normal serratus an-terior function). With arms dependent, the rightscapula was further from the midline than the left,and the upper border was rotated laterally. Thesternocleidomastoid was normal, and trapeziusfunction in raising the shoulder against resistancewas good. When she tried to abduct the arms fromthe dependent position without twisting them (sothat the hand would reverse from touching thethigh to facing outward above the head), shecould do it normally on the left, but was unable toraise the arm above shoulder level on the right.There was no weakness of any other arm muscle,and the remainder of the neurological examinationwas normal.
Results of urinalysis, haemogram, blood chem-istry, and radiographs of skull, chest, and cervicalspine were normal. Motor nerve conductionvelocity of the right median nerve was normalat 56.5 m/s with normal distal motor and sensorylatencies of 3.3 and 3.4 ms. Motor nerve conduc-tion velocity of the right ulnar nerve was slightlyslow at 44.7 m/s with slightly prolonged distalmotor and sensory latencies of 4 and 3.2 msrespectively. Monopolar needle electromyographyshowed fibrillations and postive waves in rightsupraspinatus and trapezius muscles. Reducednumbers of motor unit potentials under voluntarycontrol were found in these two muscles. Allother muscles tested of the right upper extremitywere normal except for a few complex potentialsin the hypothenar muscles. Measurement ofspinal accessory nerve latencies was attemptedin three healthy control subjects and both patients,but we could not obtain consistent results withCherington's technique (Cherington, 1968).
Comment
The spinal accessory nerve leaves the jugularforamen and passes laterally and backwards,either posterior or anterior to the internal jugularvein, then descends obliquely to reach the upperpart of the sternocleidomastoid muscle (Warwickand Williams, 1973). It pierces the deep surfaceof that muscle, supplies it, joins with branches-from the C2 spinal nerve, and then runs alongthe deep surface of that muscle to emerge atthe posterior border of the sternocleidomastoid,
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Accessory nerve palsy
just above the midpoint. The nerve then crossesthe posterior triangle of the neck, lying on thelevator scapulae, and there is in a superficial andvulnerable position adjacent to superficial cervicallymph nodes and receiving communications fromC2 and C3 spinal nerves (Fig. 2). About 50 mmabove the clavicle, the accessory nerve descendsbeneath the anterior border of the trapezius to-gether with branches of C3 and C4 spinal nerves(which cross the posterior triangle obliquely at alower level than the accessory nerve) and a plexusis formed on the deep surface, from which thetrapezius is innervated.
Although the majority opinion is that the upperportion of the trapezius is innervated solelythrough the accessory nerve and that the lowerportion is usually supplied by the lateral series ofthe deep branches of the third and fourth cervicalnerves (Brodal, 1969), variations are not infre-quent and at least one author (Anderson andFlowers, 1969) believes that the contribution fromC3 and C4 spinal nerves is purely proprioceptive.Fibres of the upper trapezius elevate the scapula,draw it forward, and, therefore, raise the point ofthe shoulder and allow the arm to be raised abovethe head. Fibres of the lower trapezius act with the
rhomboids to retract the scapula and brace backthe shoulder.The causes of injury to the accessory nerve
have been described often. Wulif (1941) citedseveral cases due to compression by lympho-matous nodes. Kramer (cited by Norden, 1956) des-cribed isolated lesions due to gunshot wounds inWorld War I. The nerve may be damaged by in-flammatory or neoplastic lesions at the base ofthe skull or within the neck (Ballantyne andGuinn, 1966), by minor surgical incisions in theposterior triangle of the neck (Handord, 1933),major neck surgery (Ballantyne and Guinn, 1966),or even without overt cause (Eisen and Bertrand,1972). Accessory nerve paralysis has also beendescribed after hemithyroidectomy (Schneck,1960).Accessory nerve palsy must be differentiated
from the similar syndrome due to weakness of theserratus anterior after lesions of the long thoracicnerve (Eisen and Bertrand, 1972). In both con-ditions there is difficulty in raising the arm fullyabove the horizontal (Table). In serratus anteriorpalsy, the initial pain usually involves the shoulderregion, and deformity at rest is minimal. Wingingof the scapula is prominent on forward elevation
Fig. 2 Extracranial course ofright accessory nerve.
(Reproduced by permission of J. C. B. Grant: An Atlas oJ Anatomy, Sixth Edition, Copyright 1972, Williams and Wilkins.)
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Table Differential diagnosis of spinal accessory (XI)and long thoracic nerve (LTN) lesions
XI LTN
Pain usually severe involving usually minimalsupraclavicular fossa, localised to scapularsuboccipital region and regionshoulder
Winging at rest minimal more markedWinging during accentuated by forward accentuated by armactivity elevation and pushing abduction at shoulder
with outstretched arm levelDeformity at trapezius wasting, minimal especiallyrest supraclavicular fossa on frontal view
appears deeper onaffected side
Elbow at rest protrudes laterally minimal lateralprotrusion
Elbow adduction impaired on affected not impairedside
Scapular superior angle further inferior angle furtherdisplacement from midline from midlineMuscles trapezius, sternocleido- serratus anteriorinvolved mastoid (sometimes)
of the arm. The scapula moves upward and later-ally, with the inferior angle displaced further fromthe midline than the superior angle. In contrast,pain associated with trapezius paralysis is locatedalong the posterior border of the sternocleido-mastoid and in the suboccipital region. Theshoulder droops, there is internal rotation of thescapula and loss of the trapezius contour. Wingingof the scapula is moderate and is accentuated byabduction of the arm. During this manoeuvre, thescapula moves upward and laterally, with thesuperior angle displaced further from the midlinethan the inferior angle.
Lesions of the spinal accessory nerve (Morrowand Broder, 1965) seem to be overlooked fre-quently. If the surgeon is aware of this potentialcomplication, and if the nerve cannot be spared,free nerve grafting at the time of operation or
within the next several weeks, usually leads tomoderate or complete elimination of disability anddiscomfort (Ballantyne and Guinn, 1966; Andersonand Flowers, 1969). Unfortunately, in the case ofan older injury, as in the present cases, nerve graftor suture (if the peripheral stump of the accessorynerve can be found at all) is much less likely tosucceed, and one must resort to physical therapy
and other symptomatic treatment, which are notusually very helpful. Alleviation of pain is usuallythe primary goal and wearing an arm sling some-times relieves the discomfort.
The authors wish to thank Dr Lewis P. Rowlandfor editorial help, inspiration, and encouragement.
References
Anderson, R., and Flowers, R. (1969). Free grafts ofthe spinal accessory nerve during radical neck dis-section. American Journal of Surgery, 118, 796-799.
Baker, A. B. (1975). Editor. Clinical Neurology. Har-per and Row: New York.
Ballantyne, A. J., and Guinn, G. A. (1966). Reductionof shoulder disability after neck dissection. Ameri-can Journal of Surgery, 112, 662-665.
Brodal, A. (1969). Neurological Anatomy in Relationto Clinical Medicine, 2nd Edition, pp. 360-363.Oxford University Press: London.
Cherington, M. (1968). Accessory nerve: conductionstudies. Archives of Neurology (Chicago), 18, 708-709.
DeJong, R. M. (1967). The Neurological Examination,3rd Edition. pp. 324-333. Harper and Row: NewYork.
Eisen, A., and Bertrand, G. (1972). Isolated accessorynerve palsy of spontaneous origin. Archives ofNeurology (Chicago), 27, 496-502.
Handord, J. M. (1933). Surgical excision of tuberculouslymph nodes of the neck Surgical Clinics of NorthAmerica, 13, 301-310.
Haymaker, W., and Woodhall, B. (1963). PeripheralNerve Injuries: Principles of Diagnosis. 2nd Edition,pp. 275-277. W. B. Saun(lers: Philadelphia.
Morrow, R. C., and Broder, A. I. (1965). Some cranialmotor nerve injuries in otolaryngology. Laryngo-scope, 75, 988-1001.
Norden, A. (1956). Peripheral injuries to the Epinalaccessory nerve. Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica, 94,515-532.
Schneck, S. (1960). Peripheral and cranial nerve in-juries resulting from general surgical procedures.Archives of Surgery, 81, 855-859.
Warwick, R., and Williams, P. L. (1973). Gray'sAnatomy. 35th British Edition. W. B. Saunders:Philadelphia.
Wulff, H. B. (1941). Treatment of tuberculous cervicallymphoma: late results in 230 case. treatedpartially surgically, partially radiologically. ActaChirurgica Scandinavica, 84, 343-366.
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