Traumatic brachial plexopathy in a patient with off-state Parkinson disease

Abstract

The patient was a 67-year-old woman who had an advanced Parkinson disease. She developed flaccid monoplegia with areflexia in the right upper limb after a fall during off-state. Neurophysiological examinations revealed a neurapraxia in the proximal segment of the peripheral nerves. MRI showed high signal intensity in the right supraclavicular area including the brachial plexus and peripheral tissue on short TI inversion recovery images, which supported the diagnosis of the crush injury. The diagnosis of the traumatic brachial plexopathy was made. By the combination of neurophysiological examination and MRI, more elaborate diagnosis of the traumatic nerve injuries can be made.