Does anyone know the pro and cons of just having the scalenectomy done? I am scheduled for surgery on March 3rd and the Dr plans on doing the scalenectomy and removing another muscle in my brachial plexus. The Dr said he has equivalent results without removing the rib and I'm just wondering about other people's experiences.

Opps...I meant to say another muscle removed in the pectoral region...does anyone have experience with this.

Which muscle? The pec minor?

Didn't we have people on here with the pec minor snip complaining about muscle shearing in the neighboring muscles? Also, difficulty doing certain arm movements afterwards.

Find out the muscle name and search the forum.

Interesting that you ask that question. I was just reading online the other day that instead of having the rib resection and scalenectomy, just removing the scalene is another method.

I'm set to have the rib resection and scalenectomy done next week, however, I would be curious to know what you find, as I am a candidate for my right side surgery as well.

Take care.

I am pretty sure it is the pec minor. What is muscle shearing? I'm having surgery on the 3rd so I'll let everyone know how it goes.

An older thread about Pec minor tenotomy -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=29324

I know there are more also- a forum search should bring them up for you.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/search.php

Maybe I'm recalling the wrong term because a forum search for "shearing" doesn't turn up much. But I thought that I read that people who got a pec minor tenotomy had problems later with surrounding muscles being overstrained as they pick up the slack. You'll have to search the forums and google for "pec minor tenotomy" and maybe some other terms to find out more. I haven't had one and don't know much about them.

I have had problems with my pec minor on my left being unusually tight. I've been stretching that sucker for 4 months and it's improved, but needs more.

I believe Dr. Louis Messina (University of Mass.) does only the scalenectomy, without the rib resection. Dr. Messina was formerly at UCSF. I believe UCSF does only the scalenectomy, too. Dr. Sanders in Denver advocates this approach as well.

Kelly