Jorge Eduardo Duque Parra; Bélgica Vásquez; Jhonatan Duque & Mariano del Sol

Occasionally the scapular notch can be replaced by a bony foramen product of the ossification of the superior transverse scapular ligament. This bone formation is considered a precipitating factor for compression of the suprascapular nerve. One hundred and ninety-five adult scapulae from Colombian (114 scapulae) and Chilean (81 scapulae) university osteotheques were studied macroscopically to determine the presence of a bony scapular foramen. Both scapulae of the same Colombian individual (1.75% of the total) presented the scapular foramen and one left scapula (1.23%) presented this formation in a Chilean individual. The prevalence of ossification of the superior transverse scapular ligament is highly variable in the different studies and tends to be less than 10%; however, it can become a risk factor due to entrapment or compression of the suprascapular nerve, a fact known as suprascapular neuropathy.

KEY WORDS: Scapula; Scapular notch; Scapular fora- men; Superior transverse scapular ligament; ligamentous ossification.

DUQUE-PARRA, J. E.; VÁSQUEZ, B.; DUQUE, J. & DEL SOL, M. Ossified scapular foramen in a Colombian-Chilean population sample. Int. J. Morphol., 40(5):1395-1399, 2022.