Abstract
Paralysis of the long thoracic nerve is rare and the symptom of this lesion shows evident winging of the scapula. Sometimes it occurs by trauma and sports. We experienced two cases for which the causes of this palsy were unknown.
One case was a 31-year-old woman and the other a 22-year-old man. The symptoms occured suddenly and the cause was not clear in either case. They showed evident winging of the scapula when elevating their affected shoulders in the flexed position. Blood analyses, shoulder and neck rentogenograms and MRI were normal. Electromyographic examinations showed a neurogenic pattern of the serratus anterior muscle and a delay in the long thoracic nerve's conduction velocity.
These cases are thought to be an example of neuralgic amyotrophy and should be treated by conservative method.
