title: Usefulness of muscle denervation as an MRI sign of peripheral nerve pathology.
abstract: Peripheral nerve disorders may be classified into compressive or entrapment neuropathies and non-compressive neuropathies. Muscle denervation recognized on MRI may be a useful sign in the diagnosis of peripheral nerve disorders. Acute or subacute denervation results in prolonged T2 relaxation time, producing increased signal in skeletal muscle on short tau inversion-recovery and fat-suppressed T2-weighted images. Chronic denervation produces fatty atrophy of skeletal muscles, resulting in increased muscle signal on T1-weighted images. This review will outline and illustrate the various ways that muscle denervation as seen on MRI may assist in the diagnosis and localization of peripheral nerve disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Redcliffe District Hospital, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. dlisle@bigpond.net.au
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lisle
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Johnstone
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009121:Muscle Denervation; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation*; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*