Feasibility of sagittal T2 mapping of the median nerve in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome

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Author Info

Hideki Yoshikawa Hiroyuki Tanaka Hisashi Tanaka Takashi Nishii Toshiyuki Shiomi Tsuyoshi Murase Yukari Takeyasu

Corresponding Author

Takashi Nishii
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka General Medical Center, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Japan

A B S T R A C T

Purpose: To evaluate patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) by using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sagittal T2 mapping of the median nerve for localization of abnormal regions. Material and Methods: Nine hands of seven patients with CTS and five hands of five healthy volunteers were evaluated using sagittal T2 mapping and axial spoiled gradient-echo (SPGR) images. Three regions of interest (ROIs) at the carpal tunnel (ROI-1 to ROI-3) and one control ROI distal to the carpal tunnel (ROIC) were defined on the median nerve and T2-ratios at ROI-1 to ROI-3 relative to ROI-C were calculated. The flattening ratio (F-ratio; width/height of the median nerve) was also calculated from the axial SPGR images. Results: On sagittal T2 mapping, the medial nerve of normal volunteers showed constant T2 values at all ROIs. In the patients with CTS, there was large variation in T2 among the ROIs and the region of highest T2 value varied among the patients. T2-ratios at ROI-2 and -3 and the F-ratios along all carpal tunnel levels were significantly higher in the patients with CTS than in the normal volunteers. A significant correlation was found between terminal latency and T2-ratio at ROI-2 but not between terminal latency and F-ratio. Conclusion: Sagittal T2 mapping was feasible for the localization of abnormal T2 regions of the median nerve in patients with CTS.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Tue 20, Mar 2018
Accepted: Fri 06, Apr 2018
Published: Thu 12, Apr 2018

Copyright

© 2023 Takashi Nishii. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.RDI.2018.10.003