Quantitative MRI of Skeletal Muscle For Assessing the Site and Severity of Ulnar Nerve Entrapment: A Pilot Study

Cubital tunnel syndrome (CuTS) is the 2nd most common nerve disorder caused by compression of the ulnar nerve around the back of the elbow (funny bone). The condition affects working age adults, causing pain, weakness, pins and needles and numbness in the hand. Surgery is the recommended treatment for CuTS and in the UK, 6000 operations are performed annually.

However, healthcare professionals lack a reliable test for CuTS.

This means that clinicians typically 1) keep patients under surveillance for 15 months, to see if they get better or worse, or 2) perform electrical tests in hospital.

Electrical tests involve needles being inserted into muscles of the hand and forearm, and the delivery of painful electric shocks. Research shows that these tests are unreliable.

Delaying surgery for surveillance and/or electrical tests means that half of patients have lost muscle and sensation in their hands before surgery is performed. Delays to surgery also mean that 1 in 10 people don’t get better after surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a type of imaging that uses magnetic fields to produce images.

MRI can be used to see nerves and muscles but currently, we cannot tell whether they are affected by CuTS using current techniques. We are developing new MRI scans that can measure the health of nerves and muscles to help diagnose CuTS. We think that these measurements could help doctors to identify and treat people with CuTS sooner and more reliably.

Early surgery could also help some patients to avoid permanent disability.