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Hourglass-like constriction neuropathy of the suprascapular nerve detected by high-resolution magnetic resonance neurography: report of three patients

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Abstract

Hourglass-like constriction neuropathy is a neurological condition caused by non-traumatic, non-compressive fascicular constrictions of one or more individual peripheral nerves. Based on clinical manifestations, it is very difficult to differentiate hourglass-like constriction neuropathy from idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Focal hourglass-like constriction neuropathy may be erroneously diagnosed as idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Previous studies demonstrated hourglass-like constrictions of peripheral nerves in the surgical exploration of patients diagnosed with idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Recently, high-resolution ultrasound or magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) have been introduced to detect focal hourglass-like constrictions of peripheral nerves in spontaneous nerve palsy. We present a series of three cases in which the suprascapular nerve was affected by hourglass-like constrictions, which were visualized by high-solution MRN, including a nerve-selective morphological MR pulse sequence with strong fat- and water-signal suppression.

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Correspondence to Duk Hyun Sung.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board.

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We did not receive any financial support or other benefits from commercial sources for the work reported in this manuscript, nor did any of the authors have any financial interests with regard to the work that may create a potential conflict of interest or the appearance of one. This work has not been previously presented, submitted, or published in any form or any language.

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Kim, D.H., Kim, J. & Sung, D.H. Hourglass-like constriction neuropathy of the suprascapular nerve detected by high-resolution magnetic resonance neurography: report of three patients. Skeletal Radiol 48, 1451–1456 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-019-03174-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-019-03174-4

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