Relationship Between Gender, Age, BMI and Side of Body on the Size and Position of Nerves of the Brachial Plexus in Axilla: Pilot Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographics Data of the Sample Set

Gender	Male				Female
BMI	20–25	25–30	30–35	35–40	20–25	25–30	30–35	35–40
N	1	6	2	1	7	2	1	0
Age	20–29	30–39	40–49	50–60	20–29	30–39	40–49	50–59
N	2	3	3	2	5	2	1	2

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index kg/m2; N, number; Age, in years.

Figure 1 (A) Original ultrasound image of brachial plexus. (B) Freehand selection of nerves . (C) ImageJ image with overlaying grid. (D) Graph used to compare the position of the nerves of the brachial plexus.

Table 2 Mean and Standard Deviation (SD) for the Right and Left Hand Side and Males and Females for the Four Nerves of the Brachial Plexus

Variable	Median (Units cm^2)			Musculocutaneous			Radial			Ulnar
	Mean	SD	P value	Mean	SD	P value	Mean	SD	P value	Mean	SD	P value
Male	0.099	0.019	0.1882	0.032	0.014	0.0068	0.179	0.048	0.0002	0.076	0.012	0.0004
Female	0.091	0.036		0.022	0.008		0.128	0.033		0.062	0.013
Right	0.092	0.021	0.2446	0.028	0.01	0.4047	0.152	0.046	0.4099	0.071	0.013	0.1641
Left	0.098	0.035		0.027	0.014		0.155	0.05		0.067	0.015

Table 3 Correlation Between Nerve Size and BMI and Age. PCC: Pearson Correlation Coefficient

Nerve Size (Average)	BMI				Age
	20–24	25–30	30+	Overall PCC	20–29	30–39	40+	Overall PCC
Median	0.090	0.105	0.085	0.064	0.087	0.104	0.104	0.169
Musculocutaneous	0.025	0.027	0.032	0.305	0.028	0.027	0.026	−0.034
Radial	0.129	0.164	0.181	0.485	0.128	0.153	0.179	0.445
Ulnar	0.064	0.07	0.076	0.347	0.064	0.073	0.07	0.090

Figure 2 The position of each of the nerves of the brachial plexus in males and females.

Figure 3 The position of each of the nerves of the brachial plexus on the right and left hand side.