Clinical Application of Diffusion Tensor Imaging for a Brachial Plexus Injury

• Published in: Diagnostics (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 7; p. 1687
• Main Authors: Vara, Giulio, Tuzzato, Gianmarco, Bianchi, Giuseppe, Miceli, Marco, Spinardi, Luca, Golfieri, Rita, Rinaldi, Raffaella, Facchini, Giancarlo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 11.07.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Biomarkers; brachial plexus; Brachial plexus neuritis; Care and treatment; Case studies; Complications and side effects; Conflicts of interest; Crash injuries; Diagnosis; diffusion tensor imaging; Edema; Interesting Images; Magnetic resonance imaging; multishell; Nervous system; Open source software; radiculopathy; Rotator cuff; tractography; Italy
• ISSN: 2075-4418; 2075-4418
• DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12071687

Brachial plexus injuries are commonly diagnosed clinically, as conventional imaging has a low sensitivity. In recent years, diffusion tensor imaging has established a clinical role in the study of the central nervous system and, while still presenting some limitations due to the technical complexity of the acquisition method, is showing promising results when applied to peripheral nerves. Moreover, deterministic fiber tracking with the Euler’s method and multishell acquisition are two novel advances in the field which contribute to enhancing the reliability of the technique reducing the respiratory and inhomogeneity artifacts in this “magnetically complex” region, and better isolating the fibers in a heterogeneous territory. Here, we report a case of brachial plexus traumatic injury, a healthy reference subject, and details on the acquisition protocol of the reconstruction algorithm.