MR examination plan of normal peroneal nerve and branches in popliteal fossa / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective：To explore MR examination scheme for common peroneal nerve and its branches in the popliteal fossa. Methods： Oblique coronal improved fast spin echo (FSE-XL) T1W, FSE-XL T2W, FSE-XL T2W+iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL), short time inversion recovery (STIR) and sagittal three-dimensional fast spoiled gradient-recall echo (3D FSPGR)+IDEAL scanning were performed on 30 popliteal fossa of 30 volunteers. CNR of the peroneal nerve/femoral muscles in oblique coronal images of different sequences were calculated and compared. The displaying scores of the common peroneal nerve and its branches in oblique coronal images, of sagittal 3D FSPGR+IDEAL on common peroneal nerve and its branches were all analyzed. Results ：The overall differences of CNR in the oblique coronal FSE-XL T1W, FSE-XL T2W, STIR, FSE-XL T2W+IDEAL had statistical significance (F=123.57, P<0.01), of CNR between FSE-XL T1W, FSE-XL T2W and STIR, FSE-XL T2W+IDEA were also statistical significance (all P<0.01). There was no significant difference in overall scores of common peroneal nerve (χ2=0.077, P=0.942) among FSE-XL T1W, FSE-XL T2W, STIR and FSE-XL T2W+IDEAL, while the overall differences of the scores of lateral peroneal cutaneous nerve, deep peroneal nerve and superficial peroneal nerve among the 4 sequence images were statistical significance (all P<0.05), FSE-XL T2W+IDEAL and STIR sequence images showed statistical significance differences of lateral peroneal cutaneous nerve, the deep peroneal nerve and superficial peroneal nerve (all P<0.05). The displaying rate of 3D FSPGR+IDEAL imaging for common peroneal nerve and its branch were all 100%. Conclusion： MRI can well display common peroneal nerve and its branches in the popliteal fossa with recommended FSE-XL T2W+IDEAL and sagittal 3D FSPGR+IDEAL sequences.