High-Fequency Ultrasongraphy Of Adult Hand And Wrist And Its Clinical Application

Objective:To identify the sonographic characteristics of hands and wrists in normal adults and patients.Metheds:The sonographic characteristics of muscles, nerves, vascules and bones in 60 hands and wrists with 16 men and 14 women in good health were described and recorded; the cross-sectional area of the ulnar nerve trunk, the deep branch of ulnar nerve and the superficial branch of ulnar nerve, which at the level of the Guyon canal were measured; the inner diameter, peak systolic velocity and so on of the radial arteries and ulnar arteries, which were beteen the styloid process of ulna and the styloid process of radius were measured; the sonographic anatomic typings of the superficial palmar arch in normal adults were described and recorded; the sonographic characteristics of pathological changes hands and wrists in 45 patients were described and recorded.Results:In this study, observed the sonographic imagings of many sections of hands and wrists in normal adults with the anatomic landmark of bones, muscles, tendons, vascellums and nerves; identified the sonographic anatomic typings of the superficial palmar arch in normal adults; illuminated the sonographic characteristics of Guyon canal and its contents; the mean cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk, deep branch of ulnar nerve and superficial branch of ulnar nerve, which at the level of the Guyon canal in men (16 branches were at the left,16 branches were at the right) were 0.066±0.009 cm2,0.031±0.004 cm2,0.031±0.005 cm2; the mean cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk, deep branch of ulnar nerve and superficial branch of ulnar nerve, which at the level of the Guyon canal in women (14 branches were at the left,14 branches were at the right) were 0.060±0.012 cm2,0.028±0.005 cm2,0.030±0.005 cm2; the mean cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk, deep branch of ulnar nerve and superficial branch of ulnar nerve, which at the level of the Guyon canal at the handedness in normal adults (ambisextrous; 22 branches were right handedness,8 branches were left handedness) were 0.064±0.011 cm2,0.031±0.005 cm2,0.032±0.005 cm2; the mean cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk, deep branch of ulnar nerve and superficial branch of ulnar nerve, which at the level of the Guyon canal at the non-handedness in normal adults (ambisextrous; 22 branches were left non-handedness,8 branches were right non-handedness) were 0.062±0.011 cm2,0.029±0.005 cm2,0.030±0.005 cm2; the mean inner diameter of the radial arteries and ulnar arteries, which were beteen the styloid process of ulna and the styloid process of radius in normal adults (32 branches were in men,28 branches were in women) were 0.237±0.028 cm2,0.245±0.037 cm, the mean peak systolic velocity were 38.34±5.94 cm/s,38.86±7.06 cm/s, the mean resistant index were 0.609±0.062,0.634±0.063. Statistics analysis showed:the difference in cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk and deep branch of ulnar nerve at the level of the Guyon canal between men and women were significant (p<0.05), but the difference in cross-sectional area of superficial branch of ulnar nerve at the level of the Guyon canal between men and women was not significant (p>0.05); the difference in cross-sectional area of ulnar nerve trunk, the deep branch of ulnar nerve and superficial branch of ulnar nerve at the level of the Guyon canal between handedness and non-handedness were not significant (p>0.05).The sonographic characteristics of pathological changes hands and wrists in 45 patients were described and recorded in detail.Conclusion:High-frequency ultrasound as a preferred noninvasive examination can be used for hands and wrists in normal adults and patients and it was worth to spread in clinic application.