Measurement of Normal Median Nerve Area at the Level of the Wrist Joint in Adult Using Diagnostic Ultrasonography

Abstract

This a cross sectional descriptive study carried out in order to know the normal area measurements of median nerve at the wrist joint for adult. The study was done in College of Medical Radiological Sciences and Ribat University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan from April to august 2016. There were 100 subjects, of age above 17 years, selected randomly all subjects had not any symptoms related to median nerve pathology. Musculoskeletal ultrasound scanning using 7-10 MHz transducers were performed for the wrist joints and the median nerve area of both hands were obtained. The results of this thesis states that the mean of right and left median nerve area (MNA), were (7.32±2.51) mm2, and (6.43±2.14) mm2 respectively, with no significant difference between males and females. The study found out that, there is linear increase in the median nerve area in relation to increase in the patient's age and weight, by 0.163±0.024 and 0.17±0.03 mm2/year for right and left median nerve area respectively, and by (0.04±0.02) and (031±0.01) mm2//kg for the right and left median nerve area respectively. Moreover the normal median nerve has a hypo echogenicity (hypoechoic). The study conclude that the median nerve area measurement is important to detect any abnormal increment in MNA and ultrasound is a best modality to scanning the median nerve in means of availability, cost and ease of use, so it’s recommended to use ultrasound confidently as a diagnostic modality to detect any median nerve injury.