title: Intraoperative imaging of the brachial plexus by high-resolution ultrasound.
abstract: The authors attempted to perform direct high resolution ultrasound imaging of the intraneural ultrastructure of the brachial plexus for intraoperative image guidance in brachial plexus surgery. The brachial plexuses of four fresh-frozen cadaver specimens were surgically exposed in a standard approach used in routine brachial plexus surgery to undergo direct ultrasound examination using a 15 MHz SonoCT scanhead. By placing the scanhead directly onto the epineurium, all components of the brachial plexus were directly visualized in an axial plane and compared with histologic findings. The internal neural structure at different levels could be visualized in high resolution, showing the specific fascicular pattern. The histologic processing revealed good correlation with the intraneural topography demonstrated on ultrasound. In the study, high resolution ultrasound examination of the brachial plexus showed substantial details of the ultrastructure of neural tissue, which may play a role in intraoperative image guidance in the surgical treatment of patients with brachial plexopathy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Vienna Medical School, Waehringerguertel 18-20, Vienna 1090, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubiena
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hörmann
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Michlits
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tschabitscher
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Groszschmidt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frey
mesh_terms: D001917:Brachial Plexus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D002102:Cadaver; D004210:Dissection; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D014463:Ultrasonography