MR neurography of ulnar nerve entrapment at the cubital tunnel: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Abstract

• DTI and tractography support conventional MR neurography in the detection of UNE • Regionally reduced FA values and discontinuous tractography patterns indicate UNE • T2-weighted MR neurography remains the imaging gold standard in cases of UNE • DTI-based ulnar nerve tractography offers additional topographic information in 3D.

Impact of high resolution 3 tesla MR neurography (MRN) on diagnostic thinking and therapeutic patient management

“…Prior investigative work has focused on the diagnostic accuracy of MR for peripheral nerve imaging [5,7,10,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. Previous impact studies in this domain are limited to a retrospective review looking at upper extremity nerve (median, radial, ulnar) abnormalities.…”

Peripheral nerve diffusion tensor imaging: Overview, pitfalls, and future directions

“…One CTS study correlated AD with compound muscle action potential (CMAP), which is inferred to be indicative of axon integrity, while RD and FA correlated with sensory nerve conduction velocity (sNCV), which reflects myelin sheath integrity. Cubital tunnel syndrome of the ulnar nerve has been found to decrease FA; moreover, fiber discontinuities indicating severe nerve damage were detected with DTT …”

“…A matrix size of no larger than 128 × 128 with a 12‐cm field of view (FOV) is recommended for most upper and lower extremity peripheral nerves. Currently, the highest‐resolution DTI images of the median nerve are on the order of 1.16 mm 2 . SNR can be increased by increasing the number of excitations/acquisitions per image, but at the expense of increased scan time .…”

Visualization of nerve fibers around the carotid bifurcation with use of a 9.4 Tesla microscopic magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging with tractography

“…In recent years, DTI, an MRI technique that allows us to delineate the axonal organizations, has been reported to be useful in understanding nerve anatomy3, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and nerve disorders 4, 5, 6, 7, 18. In the head and neck region, reports are limited.…”