United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Question....we are going to be getting an MRI done on Valentines Day but as I've been reading information I keep seeing EMG. Should we be asking for both or is the MRI alone good enough? Please advise....


Maria
Amaru's mom ROBPI 3 months old TODAY!!!

Maria,
Our daughter had both done. We were told the MRI was to show kinda a general map of where the damage was. The EMG was a more detailed map that shows exactly what each individual nerve is doing, whether or not it's even firing or to what extent it's firing. (how far,or if it's returning) If you have ANY questions please ask your Dr./ Surgeon. They should be more than happy to make sure you are informed. I myself although happy to help, can only offer opinion from what I've experienced.
Tonya- Miah's mom

I also think it depends on how severe the injury is and what exactly the doctor wants to see. I think sometimes the doctors will recommend an EMG is the child has a more moderate to severe injury and not as much if the injury is closer to the mild side of things. I wouldn't consider my daughter's injury mild at all, but we still never had an EMG. We just had an MRI, but that was when our doctor wanted to see her shoulder joint. Either way, no test is fun for our kiddos so good luck with everything.
~Krista~

Maria
You didn't say if your daughter was having surgery?
I have found that each Dr has someone they prefer to have do the EMG My son has had 4 in 14 yrs 3 right before his surgery's the last was with Dr Nath in Nov he had a Dr he works closely with do the EMG he knew just what Dr Nath needed to see before operating. Also these test are quite painful even to frankie who has a severe injury with limited feeling. I would talk to your bpi dr and see if its necessary only then would I personally get one done
Best of luck Mare

We haven 't been told yet if we need to have surgery for my son. Our doctor at Shriner's wants to do an MRI to see if the severity of his injury. He has not mentioned any other testing and I am just curious because I have no idea if we should be doing other test. That's all.

Maria
Amaru's mom (3 months old)

> Question....we are going to be getting an MRI done on
> Valentines Day but as I've been reading information I
> keep seeing EMG. Should we be asking for both or is
> the MRI alone good enough? Please advise....
>
>
> Maria
> Amaru's mom ROBPI 3 months old TODAY!!!

My son Bradley had an MRI at three months old under sedation. The doctor that read the mri said it showed he had an avulsion at T1. After seeing a few more bpi specialists primary was recommended, nerve conduction testing was done under anesthesia it turned out he had a ruptured c5,c6, and c7. I'm guessing based on our experience, the mri results are not always acurate?
Allison Bradley's mom 5 ROBPI

Although MRI and EMG can give the area of the injury, it seldom gives complete diagnosis. Until they have actually been in they will not know 100% the amount of damage. Dustin had an MRI first this just seemed to verify that it was the BPI and they thought c4-5, c6-7. Later when he could tolerate it he had the EMG, it showed all nerves in these areas to be severely abnormal. The EMG will show which nerves/muscles are receiving signals. Since this is a baby and may be sedated for the test, I think I would ask them to do both right away so you and she won't have to go through the whole ordeal again.
Sue

Thank you so much for all of your advice and guidance. To me this board has been a blessing.

Depending on the size of the child, MRI's are fairly inaccurate for depicting bpi. Juliana had one at 3 months old...they could barely detect anything. However, since she had no movement, she had surgery at 4.5 months and once inside she was ruptured at c-5,c-6 and avulsed at c-7, stretched at c-8.

She also had an emg, but i hear they do them differently now. She had one with needles (I thought I would collapse from her shrieking) and now I hear they don't use needles (yeah!). But the emg showed no function and that was more inline with what the dissection of the surgeons showed.

I would check with the doctor(s) you are consulting and ask what they like to see. Sometimes they just go with the function of the child. Sometimes they want more.

Good luck,
claudia

Frankies last emg with Dr Kumar had two parts the first EMG using pads and electric currents the second is nerve conduction this is with needles and they can't sedate the baby because this would also sedate the nerves that they are trying to find out about trust me I asked all three times and was told sorry they can give him anything then for two days after his arms hurt.Frankies last test they did both arms so they could compare the lbpi arms strength to the right arm. The best EMG is the one they due during surgery the child is out cold and the nerves are tested during surgery so the Dr can see exactly what nerves he is touching and how it responds it is the most accurate.