To evaluate the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in brachial plexus injury by meta-analysis.

We searched CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase for literatures related to MRI in brachial plexus imaging. Meta-analysis was performed by using Meta-Disc 1.4 software. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated, and the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was drawn.

A total of 22 articles were included, all in Chinese, including 586 patients. Meta-analysis results showed that the combined sensitivity of MRI for preganglionic injury of brachial plexus was 0.87 (95%CI: 0.85-0.89), the combined specificity was 0.82 (95%CI: 0.79-0.85), the positive likelihood ratio was 4.08 (95%CI: 2.54-6.55), the negative likelihood ratio was 0.18 (95%CI: 0.14-0.23), and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.9183. The combined sensitivity of MRI for postganglionic injury of brachial plexus was 0.87 (95%CI: 0.84-0.90), the combined specificity was 0.74 (95%CI: 0.67-0.80), the positive likelihood ratio was 3.13 (95%CI: 1.82-5.39), the negative likelihood ratio was 0.16 (95%CI: 0.10-0.27), and the AUC was 0.9117.

MRI has high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of brachial plexus injury, which can be used as an effective and feasible examination method for the diagnosis of brachial plexus injury.