title: Neoplastic brachial plexopathy detected by ultrasonography in a patient with chronic cervicobrachialgia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We report here a case of neoplastic brachial plexopathy detected by musculoskeletal ultrasonography in a patient with chronic cervicobrachialgia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 71-year-old man presented at Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center, Ankara, Turkey with a one-year history of cervicobrachial pain radiating to the left arm and numbness in the medial aspect of the left arm and hand. He could not tolerate magnetic resonance imaging because his pain was exacerbated by cervical extension. Radiographs of his chest and cervical spine were normal. Ultrasound examination of the left brachial plexus revealed segmental fusiform swelling, suggestive for a compressing lesion. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brachial plexus performed under general anaesthesia revealed a left apical lung tumour (Pancoast) infiltrating the brachial plexus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians should consider neoplastic brachial plexopathy, which is an uncommon diagnosis, when evaluating patients with unrelenting and severe cervicobrachialgia. Musculoskeletal ultrasonography can be beneficial for examining brachial plexus lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center, Gülhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey. serdarkb@gmail.com
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kesikburun
authors.forename: Özlem Köroğlu
authors.initials: ÖK
authors.lastname: Omaç
authors.forename: Mehmet Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Taşkaynatan
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Özgül
authors.forename: Arif Kenan
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020516:Brachial Plexus Neuropathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010178:Pancoast Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014463:Ultrasonography