Ultrasound Evaluation of Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow Caused by a Mass Lesion

Jungim Kwon; Min Su Park

doi:10.14253/kjcn.2016.18.1.7

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Kwon and Park: Ultrasound Evaluation of Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow Caused by a Mass Lesion

Case Report

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2016;18(1):7-10.

Published online: 18 January 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14253/kjcn.2016.18.1.7

Ultrasound Evaluation of Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow Caused by a Mass Lesion

Jungim Kwon, Min Su Park

Department of Neurology, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea

Address for correspondence; Min Su Park Department of Neurology, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, 170 Hyeonchung-ro Nam-gu, Daegu 42415, Korea Tel: +82-53-620-3685 Fax: +82-53-627-1688 E-mail: minsupark@ynu.ac.kr

Received 20 October 2015 Revised 11 January 2016 Accepted 19 February 2016

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Ulnar neuropathy at the elbow (UNE) may seem easy to diagnose when the characteristic clinical manifestations are present, and electrodiagnostic studies have high sensitivity, although they are non-localizing in some cases and unable to reveal structural lesions. Ultrasonography is noninvasive and able to find the exact location of the lesion and visualize perineural structures. We present two cases of UNE in which we found hypoechoic mass lesions near medial epicondyle with ultrasonography and discuss its usefulness in diagnosis of UNE. (Korean J Clin Neurophysiol 2016;18:7-10)

Keywords: Ulnar neuropathy, Ultrasonography, Mass

REFERENCES

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Figure 1.

Nerve ultrasonography of case 1. Transverse (A) and longitudinal (B) views of the right elbow show ulnar nerve (arrowheads) and a hypoechogenic mass (arrows) compressing ulnar nerve below medial epicondyle. ME; medial epicondyle.

Figure 2.

Nerve ultrasonography of case 2. Transverse view (A-C) tracing right ulnar nerve (arrowheads) reveals decreased cross sectional area (CSA) of the ulnar nerve in the level of the mass (arrow) (B) near the medial epicondyle and normal CSA in the proximal (A) and distal (C) parts. Longitudinal view (D) shows compression of the ulnar nerve (arrowheads) by the hypoechogenic mass (arrow). A; cross sectional area, ME; medial epicondyle.

Figure 3.

Intraoperative photograph of case 2. The mass lesion seems rather enclosed by epineurium than isolated from the ulnar nerve as a cyst.

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