United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I have a Dr. Jay Tsuruda MRI/neurogram that shows there is a problem in my lower plexus. It says possible adhesions and adema .And yet when I show this to a Dr. they don't seem to realize what they have i.e. a test done by the best in the world in this area.I could not believe I was so blessed to even have a Tsuruda MRI but it does not seem to carry much weight.I'm confused, Has anyone else had this problem? It seems so simple to me I have a test that shows there is a problem lets go in there and fix it. But I get all this well maybe I'm not sure stuff is it a confidence issue or what. I would appreciate your opinion on this subject.
thanks
flowerchild

What I've been told and heard is that tests such as MRI are not reliable in assessing the damage to the plexus. It seems that the best evaluation of actual damage can only be attained by actually performing exploratory surgery. In my case my surgeon in the UK actually explored the plexus with surgery (ie. he opened me up to see with his eyes what was wrong), and, thankfully, performed no repair as the nerves were all in continuity. This way damage was assessed much more accurately than, say, with an MRI. In fact no MRI was done on me, just exploratory surgery straight away.

Ciao, Athos

I had an mri done,
It showed the surgeon that my plexus was damaged in the shoulder area , it was only when he went in to repair it that it became obvious that the damage was in the spine,this may have been becouse of the bruising in the shoulder area?
mri's are very crude from what i understand.

In my case, I had an MRI which showed that all 5 nerves were probably avulsed, and a few weeks after, I had an exploratory op. which proved that they were.

In my experience, and talking to surgeons and other tbpi, MRI scans are not 100% reliable as a diagnostic tool for this type of injury. This is possibly why the drs. are reluctant to take the MRI results too seriously; what they probably should be considering, is an exploratory operation to determine the real extent of the injury.

Same with me, the mri showed no root avusions, but when they opened me up c8 and t1 must have been dangling like broken wires. They thought c7 was also wrecked from the mri and ct scan but it turns out it was intact.

I think the best test was the EMG ( nerve conduction test ). I know the Dr who did it knew what roots I had avulsed even before the surgery cuz he groaned the second time he tested me then imediately said " get used to living one handed "

Hey at least he cut to the chase...