Van Es H W, Van den Berg L H, Franssen H, Witkamp T D, Ramos L M, Notermans N C, Feldberg M A, Wokke J H
Department of Radiology, University Hospital Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Neurology. 1997 May;48(5):1218-24. doi: 10.1212/wnl.48.5.1218.
We studied whether magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the brachial plexus is useful to distinguish multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) from lower motor neuron disease (LMND) and whether abnormalities resemble those of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). We compared MR images of the brachial plexus of nine patients with MMN with scans from five patients with CIDP, eight patients with LMND, and 174 controls. In two patients with MMN, and in three patients with CIDP, the MR images showed an increased signal intensity on the T2-weighted images of the brachial plexus. Two other patients with MMN demonstrated a more focal, increased signal intensity on the T2-weighted images, occurring in one patient only in the axilla, and in the other patient in the axilla and in the ventral rami of the roots. MR images of the brachial plexus of eight patients with LMND were normal. The distribution of the MR imaging abnormalities corresponded with the distribution of symptoms of the patients: asymmetrical in MMN and symmetrical in CIDP. These findings demonstrate that MR imaging abnormalities of the brachial plexus in patients with MMN resemble those seen in CIDP and may be useful to distinguish MMN from LMND.
我们研究了臂丛神经的磁共振（MR）成像是否有助于区分多灶性运动神经病（MMN）与下运动神经元疾病（LMND），以及其异常表现是否与慢性炎症性脱髓鞘性多发性神经根神经病（CIDP）相似。我们将9例MMN患者的臂丛神经MR图像与5例CIDP患者、8例LMND患者及174例对照者的扫描图像进行了比较。在2例MMN患者及3例CIDP患者中，MR图像显示臂丛神经在T2加权图像上信号强度增加。另外2例MMN患者在T2加权图像上表现为更局灶性的信号强度增加，其中1例仅在腋窝出现，另1例在腋窝及神经根腹侧支出现。8例LMND患者的臂丛神经MR图像正常。MR成像异常的分布与患者症状的分布一致：MMN为不对称性，CIDP为对称性。这些发现表明，MMN患者臂丛神经的MR成像异常与CIDP所见相似，可能有助于将MMN与LMND区分开来。
