Does a person need their ribs?
Doctors at Northwestern Medicine are offering a surgical solution to an often misdiagnosed problem called thoracic outlet syndrome, which can cause numbness and tingling from a patient’s shoulder down to their fingertips.
Over 15 years, Donna Durkin, 39, had seen several doctors to try to figure out what was causing light tingling in all 10 of her fingers, when she read about thoracic outlet syndrome online last year.
"You have your collar bone and your first rib, and in between them there is a bundle of nerves and an artery that feed through those two bones and those nerves can get pinched," said Durkin.
Upon reading the symptoms, the mom and wife from Lake in the Hills sought out Dr. Andrew Arndt, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine.
"It takes awhile for someone to whittle down the other diagnosis to possible thoracic outlet syndrome. It is heavily under-recognized," Dr. Arndt said.
After numerous tests to confirm the diagnosis, Dr. Arndt's solution to Donna was to surgically remove her top rib.
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"It was wild. I had to ask, 'Are there any complications? Can I break my collar bone easier?' I feel like it has a purpose," Durkin said.
"The long and short of it is, no, we don’t need that rib," said Dr. Arndt. "It offers stability and protection, but it’s also so deep down and protected itself."
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Dr. Arndt suggested robotic surgery, which offers better access to that hard to reach area.
"Surprisingly, I was okay with it. I had dealt with it for so long, I will do whatever it takes to get some relief to get this fixed," Durkin said.
Almost one year ago, Durkin underwent two surgeries, four weeks apart, to have her top ribs removed from both sides of her body and she felt immediate relief.
"Basically, taking it out removed that pinch point and I’m good to go," Durkin said.
Causes of thoracic outlet syndrome include repetitive injury from sports, physical trauma like whiplash from a car accident, pregnancy or congenital abnormalities.
