High correlation of temporal muscle thickness with lumbar skeletal muscle cross-sectional area in patients with brain metastases

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess the correlation of temporal muscle thickness (TMT), measured on routine cranial magnetic resonance (MR) images, with lumbar skeletal muscles obtained on computed tomography (CT) images in brain metastasis patients to establish a new parameter estimating skeletal muscle mass on brain MR images.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the cross-sectional area (CSA) of skeletal muscles at the level of the third lumbar vertebra on computed tomography scans and correlated these values with TMT on MR images of the brain in two independent cohorts of 93 lung cancer and 61 melanoma patients (overall: 154 patients) with brain metastases.ResultsPearson correlation revealed a strong association between mean TMT and CSA in lung cancer and melanoma patients with brain metastases (0.733; p<0.001). The two study cohorts did not differ significantly in patient characteristics, including age (p = 0.661), weight (p = 0.787), and height (p = 0.123). However, TMT and CSA measures differed significantly between male and female patients in both lung cancer and melanoma patients with brain metastases (p<0.001).ConclusionOur data indicate that TMT, measured on routine cranial MR images, is a useful surrogate parameter for the estimation of skeletal muscle mass in patients with brain metastases. Thus, TMT may be useful for prognostic assessment, treatment considerations, and stratification or a selection factor for clinical trials in patients with brain metastases. Further studies are needed to assess the association between TMT and clinical frailty parameters, and the usefulness of TMT in patients with primary brain tumors.

Temporal muscle thickness is an independent prognostic marker in patients with progressive glioblastoma: translational imaging analysis of the EORTC 26101 trial

“…Moreover, TMT has been shown in previous studies to correlate with skeletal muscle mass and may therefore be used to asses sarcopenia in patients with primary brain tumors, in whom usually only cranial MRI and no abdominal CT images are available. 9,10,16 Furthermore, TMT has been shown to play a potential role in the prognosis of ventilator and hospital days in trauma patients and OS in newly diagnosed brain metastases patients. 12,13,19 There is also a study that used temporal muscle volume to predict the length of the hospital stay in children with non-syndromic craniosynostosis.…”

“…In contrast, TMT measurements took only about 30 seconds per patient and its assessment is therefore an appropriate method for skeletal muscle mass estimation to be integrated in the routine clinical setting with a high inter-rater (left TMT 0.959; right TMT 0.975) and intra-rater agreement (left TMT 0.917; right TMT 0.94). 10 The key benefit that the temporal muscle can be delimited in its whole extent on routinely assessed brain MR images comes along with the consequence to deal with a relatively small muscle diameter when it comes to TMT measurement. Therefore, it is all the more important to accurately adhere to the predefined landmarks and use only isotropic 1 x 1 x 1 mm MR images to provide a high measurement accuracy and minimize partial volume artifacts.…”

“…Therefore, it is all the more important to accurately adhere to the predefined landmarks and use only isotropic 1 x 1 x 1 mm MR images to provide a high measurement accuracy and minimize partial volume artifacts. 10,12 To overcome the potential influence of oral or dental diseases on TMT, the measurements were taken on both sides and a mean TMT value was calculated in all patients. This did not show any signs of interventions (e.g.…”

“…Although recently published data revealed that TMT is an applicable parameter to estimate skeletal muscle mass, further studies are required to assess its correlation with clinical frailty parameters such as muscle strength in a prospective setting. 10 Due to the fact, that we unexceptionally included progressive glioblastoma the measurement of bilateral temporal muscle thickness was only possible in 38% of the patients in this study cohort because of the frequent post-treatment changes including the temporal muscle at least at one side. Furthermore, in the current study we were able to investigate patients with progressive glioblastoma only.…”

The dataset on the characteristics of the intracerebral hemorrhage patients treated by endoscopic hematoma removal or craniotomy

“… This data can be used as a reference value for neurosurgeons when they treat their ICH patients. The data of temporal muscle thickness/area of the ICH patients can be used to compare healthy patients to investigate the meaning of temporal muscle, focusing on nutrition [ 8 , 9 ] and sarcopenia [10] . …”