Sonographic Pearls for Imaging the Brachial Plexus and Its Pathologies
Po-Cheng Hsu,
Ke-Vin Chang,
Kamal Mezian,
Ondřej Naňka,
Wei-Ting Wu,
Yi-Chiang Yang,
Stefan Meng,
Vincenzo Ricci,
Levent Özçakar
Affiliations
Po-Cheng Hsu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei 10845, Taiwan
Ke-Vin Chang
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei 10845, Taiwan
Kamal Mezian
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
Ondřej Naňka
Institute of Anatomy, Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
Wei-Ting Wu
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Bei-Hu Branch, Taipei 10845, Taiwan
Yi-Chiang Yang
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 11221, Taiwan
Stefan Meng
Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna and Radiology, Hanusch Hospital, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Vincenzo Ricci
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Science, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Unit, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Levent Özçakar
Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Hacettepe University Medical School, 06100 Ankara, Turkey
The brachial plexus (BP) is a complicated neural network, which may be affected by trauma, irradiation, neoplasm, infection, and autoimmune inflammatory diseases. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is the preferred diagnostic modality; however, it has the limitations of high cost and lack of portability. High-resolution ultrasound has recently emerged as an unparalleled diagnostic tool for diagnosing postganglionic lesions of the BP. Existing literature describes the technical skills needed for prompt ultrasound imaging and guided injections for the BP. However, it remains particularly challenging for beginners to navigate easily while scanning its different parts. To address this, we share several “clinical pearls” for the sonographic examination of the BP as well as its common pathologies.
