MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN THE DIAGNOS IS OF NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASES

The classical morphological diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases with m uscle biopsy is increasingly combined with muscle imaging methods. The MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) of the muscle exceeds muscle CT and myosonography in sensitivity and specificity. Sample errors of the mus cle biopsy in sense of false negative results or very much alterated t issue can be avoided with MRI guided muscle biopsy. In inflammatory my opathies MRI of the thighs reveals a muscle edema frequently accentuat ed in the vastus lateralis muscle. The specifity of the muscle edema i n the MRI is unknown. The signal alteration in MRI of polyneuropathies and motor neuron diseases points out that muscle fibers are converted into connective tissue. Muscle atrophy and missing muscle hypertrophy are linked to the amount of mesenchymal changings in these diagnoses.