فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Peripheral nerves at the elbow region are prone to entrapment neuropathies and injuries. To make accurate assessment, clinicians need stereoscopic display of the nerves to observe them at all angles. Objectives: To obtain a stereoscopic display of the peripheral nerves at the elbow region based on magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data using three post-processing methods of volume rendering (VR), maximum intensity projection (MIP), and fiber tractography, and to evaluate the difference and correlation between them. Results: Stereoscopic displays of the nerves were obtained in all 24 elbows by VR, MIP, and fiber tractography post-processing methods. The VR/MIP post-processing methods were easier to perform compared to fiber tractography. There was no significant difference among the scores of fiber tracking and VR/MIP reconstruction for single direction. The imaging quality scores of fiber tractography and VR/MIP were significantly correlated based on intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis (ICC ranged 0.709 - 0.901), which suggested that the scores based on fiber tractography and VR/MIP for the same sample were consistent. Inter- and intraobserver agreements were good to excellent. Conclusion: Stereoscopic displays of the peripheral nerves at the elbow region can be achieved by using VR, MIP, and fiber tracking post-processing methods based on raw DTI images. VR and MIP reconstruction could be used as preview tools before fiber tracking to determine whether the raw images are satisfactory.