Pectoralis Minor Syndrome Miscible with Subacromial Impingement Syndrome

Abstract

Objective: Pectoralis minor syndrome (PMS) is a neurovascular disorder affecting the upper extremity. In the present study, the demographic and clinical features of patients diagnosed as PMS were examined, as well as cases of concomitant subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS).Methods: A retrospective trial was conducted with 12 patients with the diagnosis of PMS according to a pectoralis minor muscle (PMM) block test. The PMM block was performed under the guidance of ultrasonography.Results: Of the 12 PMS patients evaluated, 83% had a complaint of pain, 58.3% had paresthesia, and 16.6% had swelling of the hand. A physical examination revealed that 58.3% of the patients had tenderness at the biceps tendon, 16.6% had subacromial tenderness, and 16.6% had tenderness at the acromioclavicular joint. In 66.6% patients, subacromial impingement tests were positive, and 33.3% of them had a positive subacromial injection test (SIT).Conclusion: PMS can be overlooked and may also be confused with other disorders, such as SIS. Furthermore, SIS may also accompany PMS. Therefore, in such painful pathologies, injection tests such as SIT and PMM block should be used as the reference test for the diagnosis and it should be kept in mind that these 2 clinical disorders can be observed together