Hourglass-like constriction neuropathy of the suprascapular nerve detected by high-resolution magnetic resonance neurography: report of three patients

Abstract

Hourglass-like constriction neuropathy is a neurological condition caused by non-traumatic, non-compressive fascicular constrictions of one or more individual peripheral nerves. Based on clinical manifestations, it is very difficult to differentiate hourglass-like constriction neuropathy from idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Focal hourglass-like constriction neuropathy may be erroneously diagnosed as idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Previous studies demonstrated hourglass-like constrictions of peripheral nerves in the surgical exploration of patients diagnosed with idiopathic neuralgic amyotrophy. Recently, highresolution ultrasound or magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) have been introduced to detect focal hourglass-like constrictions of peripheral nerves in spontaneous nerve palsy. We present a series of three cases in which the suprascapular nerve was affected by hourglass-like constrictions, which were visualized by high-solution MRN, including a nerve-selective morphological MR pulse sequence with strong fat-and water-signal suppression.