Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral neuropathy and is characterized by median nerve entrapment at the wrist and the resulting median nerve dysfunction. CTS is diagnosed clinically as the gold standard and confirmed with nerve conduction studies (NCS). Complementing NCS, ultras...

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Main Authors: Tai-Tzung Kuo, Ming-Ru Lee, Yin-Yin Liao, Jiann-Perng Chen, Yen-Wei Hsu, Chih-Kuang Yeh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4713209?pdf=render
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author Tai-Tzung Kuo
Ming-Ru Lee
Yin-Yin Liao
Jiann-Perng Chen
Yen-Wei Hsu
Chih-Kuang Yeh
author_facet Tai-Tzung Kuo
Ming-Ru Lee
Yin-Yin Liao
Jiann-Perng Chen
Yen-Wei Hsu
Chih-Kuang Yeh
author_sort Tai-Tzung Kuo
collection DOAJ
description Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral neuropathy and is characterized by median nerve entrapment at the wrist and the resulting median nerve dysfunction. CTS is diagnosed clinically as the gold standard and confirmed with nerve conduction studies (NCS). Complementing NCS, ultrasound imaging could provide additional anatomical information on pathological and motion changes of the median nerve. The purpose of this study was to estimate the transverse sliding patterns of the median nerve during finger movements by analyzing ultrasound dynamic images to distinguish between normal subjects and CTS patients. Transverse ultrasound images were acquired, and a speckle-tracking algorithm was used to determine the lateral displacements of the median nerve in radial-ulnar plane in B-mode images utilizing the multilevel block-sum pyramid algorithm and averaging. All of the averaged lateral displacements at separate acquisition times within a single flexion-extension cycle were accumulated to obtain the cumulative lateral displacements, which were curve-fitted with a second-order polynomial function. The fitted curve was regarded as the transverse sliding pattern of the median nerve. The R2 value, curvature, and amplitude of the fitted curves were computed to evaluate the goodness, variation and maximum value of the fit, respectively. Box plots, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and a fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm were utilized for statistical analysis. The transverse sliding of the median nerve during finger movements was greater and had a steeper fitted curve in the normal subjects than in the patients with mild or severe CTS. The temporal changes in transverse sliding of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel were found to be correlated with the presence of CTS and its severity. The representative transverse sliding patterns of the median nerve during finger movements were demonstrated to be useful for quantitatively estimating median nerve dysfunction in CTS patients.
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spelling doaj.art-ab613b45cdc34337a4cd438027fbfffc2022-12-22T00:42:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01111e014705110.1371/journal.pone.0147051Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.Tai-Tzung KuoMing-Ru LeeYin-Yin LiaoJiann-Perng ChenYen-Wei HsuChih-Kuang YehCarpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral neuropathy and is characterized by median nerve entrapment at the wrist and the resulting median nerve dysfunction. CTS is diagnosed clinically as the gold standard and confirmed with nerve conduction studies (NCS). Complementing NCS, ultrasound imaging could provide additional anatomical information on pathological and motion changes of the median nerve. The purpose of this study was to estimate the transverse sliding patterns of the median nerve during finger movements by analyzing ultrasound dynamic images to distinguish between normal subjects and CTS patients. Transverse ultrasound images were acquired, and a speckle-tracking algorithm was used to determine the lateral displacements of the median nerve in radial-ulnar plane in B-mode images utilizing the multilevel block-sum pyramid algorithm and averaging. All of the averaged lateral displacements at separate acquisition times within a single flexion-extension cycle were accumulated to obtain the cumulative lateral displacements, which were curve-fitted with a second-order polynomial function. The fitted curve was regarded as the transverse sliding pattern of the median nerve. The R2 value, curvature, and amplitude of the fitted curves were computed to evaluate the goodness, variation and maximum value of the fit, respectively. Box plots, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and a fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm were utilized for statistical analysis. The transverse sliding of the median nerve during finger movements was greater and had a steeper fitted curve in the normal subjects than in the patients with mild or severe CTS. The temporal changes in transverse sliding of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel were found to be correlated with the presence of CTS and its severity. The representative transverse sliding patterns of the median nerve during finger movements were demonstrated to be useful for quantitatively estimating median nerve dysfunction in CTS patients.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4713209?pdf=render
spellingShingle Tai-Tzung Kuo
Ming-Ru Lee
Yin-Yin Liao
Jiann-Perng Chen
Yen-Wei Hsu
Chih-Kuang Yeh
Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
PLoS ONE
title Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
title_full Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
title_fullStr Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
title_short Assessment of Median Nerve Mobility by Ultrasound Dynamic Imaging for Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
title_sort assessment of median nerve mobility by ultrasound dynamic imaging for diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4713209?pdf=render
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