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. 2019 Feb 22:12:81-88.
doi: 10.2147/MDER.S196106. eCollection 2019.

Diagnostic value of ultrasonography versus electrodiagnosis in ulnar neuropathy

Seyed Mansoor Rayegani  1 , Seyed Ahmad Raeissadat  2 , Elham Kargozar  3 , Shahram Rahimi-Dehgolan  3 , Elham Loni  4
Affiliations

Diagnostic value of ultrasonography versus electrodiagnosis in ulnar neuropathy

Seyed Mansoor Rayegani et al. Med Devices (Auckl). .

Abstract

Purpose: Ulnar neuropathy at elbow is the second-most common compression neuropathy. The main aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of ultrasonography (US) as an alternative method to electrodiagnosis (EDX), which had traditionally been used as the method of choice.

Methods: This diagnostic study was conducted on 66 participants (32 patients` elbows and 34 normal elbows) referred for EDX. Both groups were reassessed by US to evaluate the consistency of the two tests. The quantitative parameters of US, such as cross-sectional area (CSA) of the ulnar nerve at three different levels around the medial epicondyle (ME) were compared between groups.

Results: Our findings demonstrated that CSA at the ME and 2 cm distal to the ME were significantly larger in the patient group than normal participants. This higher nerve size was more prominent among those who had predominant axonal loss rather than demyelinating lesions (P<0.01). Finally, we evaluated US diagnostic value with the best singular feature (2 cm distal to ME) at a cutoff of 9 mm2, which revealed specificity of 80% and sensitivity 84%.

Conclusion: Based on these results we can conclude that US is a sensitive and specific method in diagnosing ulnar neuropathy at the elbow and can be used as an acceptable complementary method, in particular when EDX is not available.

Keywords: Cubital Tunnel Syndrome; diagnostic tests; elbow; electromyography; nerve compression syndromes.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Position of elbow in ultrasonography (from left to right) at level of medial epicondyle, 2 cm above it, and 2 cm below it, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ulnar nerve cross-section area on ultrasonography. Note: (A) At level of medial epicondyle (arrow, ulnar nerve; arrowhead, medial epicondyle; star, olecranon); (B) 2 cm above medial epicondyle (arrow, ulnar nerve; star, medial epicondyle); (C) 2 cm below medial epicondyle (arrow, ulnar nerve; stars, two heads of flexor carpi ulnaris muscle).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve for diagnostic value of ultrasonographic parameters in ulnar neuropathy. Abbreviations: CSA, cross-sectional area; dist, distal to medial epicondyle; med, at the level of medial epicondyle; prox, proximal to medial epicondyle.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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