Magnetic resonance imaging of the brachial plexus
﻿Magnetic resonance imaging was performed immediately after surgery on a 1.5 T magnet (Siemens Aera MR, Germany) to observe the diffusion of the local anesthetics. MRI examination consents were obtained from the two patients of the corresponding group. The patient in the supine and head advanced position was placed in ﻿the head, neck, and spine matrix coils. The magnetic field center was scheduled for the C6 level and scanned sequences included the transverse T1WI, T2WI, and coronal T2WI. ﻿M.R. neurography was performed using 3D short-tau inversion recovery and SPACE imaging (3D STIR SPACE), TR 3000 ms, TE 248 ms, TI 180 ms, 448 × 448 mm field-of-view (FOV), ﻿448 × 448 resolution, 1 mm slice thickness. The original images were transmitted to the Siemens workstation to process maximum intensity projection (MIP), multiplanar reconstructions (MPR) and image analysis.