Abstract
Introduction:
Ultrasound (US) measures of muscle thickness are used in the management and monitoring of muscle changes during rehabilitation, but it is unknown how this measure compares to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Case Presentation:
Six participants with incomplete SCI underwent US imaging and MRI of their gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles.
Discussion:
Significant correlations were found between US muscle thickness and MRI CSA in the gastrocnemius (R=0.91, P<0.001), and TA muscles (R=0.58, P<0.05). US muscle thickness in the gastrocnemius and TA of patients with incomplete SCI may be used as a cheaper alternative measure of CSA as measured using MRI, and this measure may be clinically useful to track progress in muscle gains during rehabilitation.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all participants for taking part in this study. Funding for this study was provided by the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant T32 HD057845. ACS is supported by the NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers and by the Foundation for Physical Therapy Promotion of Doctoral Studies programs. SSML is supported by the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant K12HD073945. JME is supported by the NIH National Institute of Child and Health Development Grant 5R01HD079076-03.
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JME—Relevant activities outside the submitted work: board membership, consultancy, other (35% ownership/investment interest in medical consultancy start-up: Pain ID LLC), payment for lectures. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This research was conceptualized and carried out at Northwestern University
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Smith, A., Jakubowski, K., Wasielewski, M. et al. Lower extremity muscle structure in incomplete spinal cord injury: a comparison between ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging. Spinal Cord Ser Cases 3, 17004 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/scsandc.2017.4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/scsandc.2017.4
