Correlation between quantitative EMG and muscle MRI in patients with axonal neuropathy

The aim of the study was to investigate whether there are correlations between electromyography (EMG) data and findings in muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Quantitative EMG data and the amount of pathologic spontaneous activity (PSA) were compared with MRI signal intensities of the tibialis anterior muscles of 20 patients with axonal polyneuropathy and 14 healthy subjects. Using hierarchical regression analysis, the mean motor unit action potential (MUAP) size index (SI) and the amount of PSA were accurate predictors of T1-weighted signal intensity in MRI, an expression of fatty degeneration. The MUAP SI was superior to MUAP amplitude in explaining the variance of T1 signal intensity. Age was not a relevant factor. A high correlation was found between the amount of PSA and the T2-weighted signal intensity in short tau inversion recovery sequence. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrates the structural changes and thus visualizes the outcome of the functional changes of denervation and reinnervation detected by EMG.