Thanks for the quick replies.

One of my first questions as well, was "What is causing the compression?" like most of you are saying. I have to think that knowing precisely what is causing the compression will help inform a procedure. I don't think I'll be satisfied without knowing this. On my last visit, I didn't get a sense that the vascular surgeon knew the answer to this question. From the recent results, I don't think this is indicated at all.

As for venous TOS, this result was a tad surprising. I would think that a doppler specifically for venous would make a lot of sense.

Pixified...my symptoms (I believe) are all neurological:

* A burning / pinching type pain on my scap, some times mid to lower traps, and down intercoastals. (That said, I ASSUMED this was neurologic pain...could this be pain from arterial compression?)

* Elbow pain. At one point an EMG showed an ulnar neuropathy. I had severe pain on the inside part of the elbow above the cubital tunnel. What's weird is that when I feel the ulnar nerve and press, it causes no problem. When I press in the belly of the muscle around the ulnar it seems to hurt. Again, not sure if this has to to with the blood vessels vs. the ulnar nerve.

* Last two digits: Tend to go numb. Pinky especially. Constantly wake up in the middle of the night and my pinky is dead numb.

And Pixified...understanding that our results are similar, what are doctors orders for you?

Jocelyn...I had three different exams. One was the MRA, then I had an extensive ultrasound all over my upper extremeties along with blood pressure readings, then I did this exam where they put sensors on my fingers and had me move in all different positions.

It would seem odd to me that you can't be diagnosed with ATOS unless you actually clot. At that point, the horse has kinda left the barn. I'd think they'd want to catch it earlier, as in my case, before it gets to that point.

I guess one of my biggest questions is, what kind of arterial damage is there? One thing I left out was that the MRA indicated that there was the "development of a tapered 1.4 cm segment of high grade stenosis versus occlusion just distal to the point of kinking when arms are elevated." Also, I had a 1.7 cm tapering high grade stenosis of the subclavian vein.

Is this significant? Have no idea. Nothing to compare. On the spectrum of tapering here, what is mild vs. moderate vs severe?

And the other big question is, assuming you've removed the compression via stretching or PT, is there any other means besides surgery for "unnarrowing" the artery? Drugs? Other procedures that don't have someone ripping some scalene muscle out?

Thanks again all. I'm probably going to be a pain in the butt on these boards the next week.

KY

Jeesh.