BRACHIALIS TENDON MRI: Elbow MRI Brachialis tendon Tendinosis, Tears and Normal
The Brachialis tendon is less commonly injured than the biceps. It inserts onto the anterior ulnar on the ulnar tuberosity and to a lesser extent on the coronoid process but the tendon is very short compared to the biceps tendon. Most commonly we see tendinosis or a strain/partial tear at the musical tendinous junction. Complete ruptures are uncommon.
- Where does the brachialis tendon insert?
- The Brachialis tendon inserts predominantly on the ulna tuberosity (Yellow circle and arrow) with some fibres extending to the coronoid process.
- (Image credit First Image Bartleby.com: Gray's Anatomy, Plate 213, 2nd Image Source unknown please inform us if this is yours and we will acknowledge).
- Where does the brachialis tendon insert?
- The Normal Brachialis tendon (blue arrow) should be black on all sequences like all tendons. Its separate to the Biceps tendon (yellow arrow).
- The second image is a sagittal scan, and demonstrates a broad tendon attachment (blue arrow) with a very short tendon length.
- Brachialis muscle (red arrow).
- Brachialis tendinosis on MRI has the standard appearance of tendinosis in any tendon.
- Look for intermediate increased PDFS signal within tendon and there may also be peritendinous oedema (blue arrow).
- Brachialis tendon (yellow arrow) is dark signal proximally (first image) but is barely seen more distally due to tendinosis and delamination.
- Compare the signal with normal low signal of the biceps tendon (blue arrow).
- There is a Brachialis musculotendinous junction (MTJ) strain and partial tearing at the junction.
- There is Oedema in muscle and its interface with the tendon at the The MTJ (blue arrow).
- Brachialis tendon itself (yellow arrow) appears normal.
Our CPD & Learning Partners
Learn more about this condition and how to best report it in more detail in our Guided Elbow MRI Mini Fellowship.
Click on the image below for more information.
For all our other current MSK MRI & Spine MRI
Online Guided Mini Fellowships.
Click on the image below for more information.
- Join our WhatsApp RadEdAsia community for regular educational posts at this link: https://bit.ly/radedasiacommunity
- Get our weekly email with all our educational posts: https://bit.ly/whathappendthisweek
#radedasia #mri #mskmri #radiología