Pain In The Neck, Chest And Shoulder After The TIF Procedure. Had A Brachial Plexus Surgery. What To Do?

Posted on Fri, 29 Jun 2012

Question: Hi, I just had the TIF procedure done. All seems to have gone well with that but as soon as I awoke I noticed pain running down my left neck into my shoulder around to the front left chest and left back. It runs down my arm as well. It has been 5 days since I have had the procedure done and some nights and days are better than others. I origionally thought it was just the gas pains that you sometimes have after an abdominal surgery, but I shouldn't have had those pains as the procedure was done esophogeally. I have also had a brachial plexus injury many years ago and it feels very similar to that with the exception that it is running into the chest wall area. Need to know what you think and what I should do.

Answered by Dr. Prabhakar C Koregol (1 hour later)

Hello and thank you for posing your query.

There are two possible explanations.

One due to position when sedated or under anaesthesia you could have had a stretch on one the neural plexus such as brachial.

Second issue sometime patient do develop these kind of symptoms due to procedure of TIF due to spasm.

However both of them tend to resolve spontaneously overtime.

If symptoms are not bearable and are getting worse, it would be advisable to review with your surgeon and if he feels everything is fine than to see neurologist.

If symptoms are reducing and not too troublesome you may wait for few more days.

Hope I have answered your query. Please write back if you have any further concerns.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Regards.

Note: For further follow-up it is advisable to consult an emergency medicine specialist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D