Value of ultrasonography in diagnosing hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the value of ultrasound in the diagnosis of hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve.Methods:From July 2010 to July 2020, 12 patients with hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve diagnosed in Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute Affiliated to Shandong University were retrospectively analyzed. The characteristics of the high-frequency ultrasonographic images were summarized and compared with clinical surgery.Results:The hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve were all located in the median nerve of the distal upper arm in 12 patients, including 9 cases of single hourglass change and 3 cases of multiple hourglass like changes. High-frequency ultrasound can accurately locate the location of the hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve and the extent of neuropathy. The sonogram of hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve showed single or multiple hourglass-like changes in the median nerve of the distal upper arm. The nerve fasciculars on both sides of hourglass-like changes were thickened. There was significant difference between the diameter of the affected fascicular and the corresponding position of the contralateral fascicular[(0.20±0.04)cm vs (0.11±0.03)cm, P<0.01]. There was significant difference between the cross-sectional area of the median nerve at the widest part of the lesion side and the corresponding position of the contralateral side[(0.14±0.03)cm 2 vs (0.09±0.03)cm 2, P<0.01]. Conclusions:High-frequency ultrasound is the preferred image method for the diagnosis of hourglass-like fascicular constrictions of the anterior interosseous nerve.