• Donata Gamber, Jeremias Motte, Antonios Kerasnoudis, Min-Suk Yoon, Ralf Gold, Kalliopi Pitarokoili, and Anna Lena Fisse.
• Department of Neurology, Ruhr-University Bochum, St. Josef Hospital, Bochum, Germany.
• J Neuroimaging. 2020 Jul 1; 30 (4): 493-502.

Background And PurposeLittle is known about echogenicity and fascicular structure observed in high-resolution nerve ultrasound (HRUS) in both healthy subjects and patients with peripheral nerve disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of echogenicity, fascicle count, and fascicle size analysis, to create standard values and compare these parameters to patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).MethodsMedian, ulnar, radial, tibial, and fibular nerve of 79 healthy subjects and patients were scanned by one examiner using HRUS. Image analysis regarding echogenicity, fascicle count, and fascicle cross-sectional area (CSA) was performed by two independent raters semiautomatically using ImageJ. Pearson correlation coefficient r reflected interrater reliability (IR), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) determined intrarater reliability (IAR). Results of healthy subjects were compared to 20 patients with CIDP by analysis of variance.ResultsIR was very good for echogenicity (r = .9) and good for fascicle count and size of the largest fascicle (r = .64/.56). IAR was very good for all three parameters (ICC = .9/.83/.74). Healthy subjects had a wide range of values. CIDP patients were in range of healthy subjects. Clinically progressive CIDP patients (defined as an increase in Overall Disability Sum Score by ≥1 point) had a lower fraction of black than healthy controls and stable CIDP patients (P < .001).ConclusionSemiautomated evaluation of echogenicity, fascicle count, and fascicle CSA is reliable. Cutoff values to differentiate between healthy persons and CIDP do not exist. Echogenicity is useful for detecting clinically progressive CIDP patients and should be used in clinical context or intraindividual course.© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Neuroimaging published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Neuroimaging.

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