MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN BRACHIAL PLEXOPATHY OF CANCER

We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of all patients with cancer and brachial plexopathy who had an MRI of the brachial plexus b etween 1984 and 1993 (71 patients). The MRIs were reevaluated in a bli nded fashion. The presence of a mass adjacent to the brachial plexus o n MRI was highly predictive of tumor infiltration as determined by cli nicopathologic criteria and was the most useful feature in distinguish ing radiation plexopathy from tumor infiltration. Increased T-2 signal in or near the brachial plexus was commonly seen in both groups and w as not useful in this distinction. MRI was very sensitive for brachial plexus abnormalities in this condition, and limited comparison with C T suggested that MRI is superior to CT as an imaging modality. CT perf ormed sufficiently well, however, to suggest that a prospective compar ison study of the cost effectiveness and clinical utility of the two i maging modalities in this clinical setting is warranted.