Diagnostic Role of High resolution US and MRI in evaluation of Ulnar nerve Entrapment Neuropathy and soft tissue Injuries around the Elbow Joint

Abdelmonem Elsayed, Heba A E; Dawoud, Osama Abdullah; Hasan, Amal Mohamad; Mostafa Shalaby, Mohamed Safwat; Abdel Rahman, Amr Ahmed Esmat

doi:10.21608/zumj.2024.319494.3573

Diagnostic Role of High resolution US and MRI in evaluation of Ulnar nerve Entrapment Neuropathy and soft tissue Injuries around the Elbow Joint

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor of Radiology, Zagazig university , Zagazig, Egypt.

² Radiodiagnosis, faculty of medicine, Zagazig University

³ Professor of radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt.

⁴ Orthopedic department, Faculty of medicine, Zagazig university

⁵ Radiodiagnosis department, faculty of medecine, zagazig univeristy Zagazig, Egypt

10.21608/zumj.2024.319494.3573

Abstract

Background: Excessive use disorders and inflammatory conditions often affect the elbow. Different types of imaging can be utilized to evaluate the elbow, such as conventional tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasonography (US), etc. Imaging had an important role as it helps in evaluating elbow tendons and ligaments and bony lesions. Methods: The current research was conducted as a cross-sectional analysis and involved thirty participants that were elbow pain. All patients underwent elbow US and MRI studied Results: On evaluating diagnostic accuracy of US in comparison to MRI as the gold standard test in patients with ulnar neuropathy; US showing 90% sensitivity and specificity of 84.2%. On evaluating diagnostic accuracy of US in comparison to MRI as the gold standard test in patients with epicondylitis tendinopathy; US showing 93.3% sensitivity and specificity of 86.7%. On evaluating diagnostic accuracy of US in comparison to MRI as the gold standard test in patients with distal biceps brachii injury; US showing 66.7% sensitivity and specificity of 76.2%. Conclusion: Ulnar nerve entrapment in the elbow region is a frequent entrapment mono-neuropathy, Our findings indicate that the use of ultrasound (US) is an accurate and precise tool for identifying ulnar neuropathy at the elbow. Additionally, the US is becoming more and more preferred for the diagnosis of medial and lateral epicondylitis with high sensitivity & specificity. However. In terms of diagnosing and classifying distal biceps brachii injuries, ultrasound demonstrated lower sensitivity than MRI, which was attributed to deep anatomic structures and problematic patient positioning.

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