OCCLUSION OF THE POSTERIOR HUMERAL CIRCUMFLEX ARTERY - DETECTION WITHNIR ANGIOGRAPHY IN HEALTHY-VOLUNTEERS AND IN A PATIENT WITH QUADRILATERAL SPACE SYNDROME

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of MR angiography in detecting occlusion of the posterior humeral cir cumflex artery and to determine if the finding is specific for the dia gnosis of quadrilateral space syndrome. SUBJECTS AND METHODS, Two-dime nsional fast low-angle shot MR angiography was used to image both shou lders of one symptomatic patient and six asymptomatic volunteers (10 p osterior humeral circumflex arteries). RESULTS. With the arm in a neut ral position, the posterior humeral circumflex arteries appeared norma l on MR angiograms of all subjects. However, when the arm was in abduc tion, occlusion of the posterior humeral circumflex artery was seen bo th in the symptomatic patient and in 80% of the asymptomatic volunteer s. CONCLUSION. Our data show that occlusion of the posterior humeral c ircumflex artery is common in asymptomatic volunteers. Thus, MR angiog raphy has no value in the diagnosis of quadrilateral space syndrome.