Discovering Pathologies in the Anatomy Lab: The Case of Brachial Plexopathy Mimicking Neurological Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

The authors concluded that the lipoma of this patient was not identifiable with computerized tomography imaging modalities, despite ultrasound demonstrating a hyperechoic outline of the mass in the cadaver of the patient. It is very likely that this lipoma had not been diagnosed previously due to the atypical location of the tumor. Equally, typical surgical methods associated with brachial plexopathy or NTOS treatment would be difficult or more complicated, due to the lateral and inferior location of the lipoma. Physicians treating thoracic outlet syndrome-type symptoms without resolution should consider potential non-malignant obstruction located outside the thoracic outlet, toward the extremity. Deep palpatory methods and physical therapy should be considered until diagnosis is certain, as ultrasound would be difficult and typical transaxillary surgical methods would be nonhelpful. Medical students and early-career residents and physicians should be aware of the resources provided to them via campus human anatomy laboratories which they may utilize to further their understanding and knowledge of specific pathologies.