The diagnosis and application value of high field MRI on brachial plexus injury

Objective To evaluate the diagnosis and application value of high field magnetic resonance image(MRI) on brachial plexus injury.Methods A retrospective analysis was made in 20 patients with brachial plexus injury.who underwent1.5T or 3.0T MRI examination between August,2010 and March,2013.Characteristics of brachial injury on MRI imaging were analysed after the images processing.Results Brachial injury can be divided into three types according to injury location :preganglionic injury,postganglionic injury and mixed injury(including preganglionic and postganglionic injury).Imaging features of MRIinclude :(1)direct signs 1 coarsening,local continuous interruption and abnormal sign of nerve(10 cases).2 stiff,structure disorder of nerve root( 18 cases).( 2) indirect signs 1 pseudomeningocele( 10 cases);2 black line sign( 5 cases);3 blunt of nerve sleeve(1 case);4 contusion,swelling and displacement of spinal cord(5 cases);5 disorder of adjacent soft tissue structure of injured nerve,edema,muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration(18 cases).Conclusion High field MRI has higher resolution of soft tissue,can completely reveal the clinical anatomy of brachial plexus and direction,display the location and range of brachial plexus injury accurately and intuitively.