CORRELATION BETWEEN MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING AND HISTOPATHOLOGY OF AN AMPUTATED FOREARM AFTER AN ELECTRICAL INJURY

A 53-year-old man sustained a 50 Hz, 60 kV electrical injury. The curr ent flowed between his right hand and both feet. There was necrosis of the distal portion of the right forearm, and the fourth and fifth toe s on the right foot. The skin on the amputated right upper extremity a ppeared normal except for an ulcer in the antecubital fossa and some b lister scars. However, most of the muscles of the arm at the elbow wer e necrosed and partially replaced by fatty tissue or fibrosis. These n ecrotic areas corresponded to minimally increased signal intensities o n T1-weighted MRI, and high signal intensities on T2-weighted images. MRI may be employed to predict amputation level after electrical injur y. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd for ISBI. All rights reserved.