We report the case of a 44-year-old male, lacking clinical history of previous illness, who had surgery at our hospital to treat a mass in the supraclavicular space. The patient presented with a 1-month progressive distal paresis of the left arm. The histo-pathological examination of the mass revealed an encapsulated fat necrosis. Fat necrosis is characterised by cystic architecture, encapsulation with fat necrosis within, and inflammatory infiltration of its walls. Neural structure compression secondary to this tumour mass is very rare. Fat necrosis is more frequent in the lower limbs, in areas exposed to trauma. This article is the first report of brachial plexus compression due to supraclavicular fat necrosis.
Keywords: Brachial plexus; Compressive neuropathy; Encapsulated fat necrosis; Necrosis grasa encapsulada; Neuropatía compresiva; Plexo braquial.
Copyright © 2013 Sociedad Española de Neurocirugía. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.