Preoperative muscle thickness influences muscle activation after arthroscopic knee surgery

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study was to compare the correlation between preoperative quadriceps femoris muscle thickness and postoperative neuromuscular activation and quadriceps femoris strength in patients with and without patellofemoral pain after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Methods A series of 120 patients were prospectively analysed in a longitudinal cohort study of patients scheduled for arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. The patellofemoral pain group included patients who developed anterior knee pain after surgery while the control group included those who had not done so. Patients with preoperative patellofemoral pain, previous knee surgeries as well as those on whom additional surgical procedures had been performed were excluded. Of the 120 initially included in the study, 90 patients were analysed after the exclusions. Results There is a direct correlation between preoperative quadriceps femoris muscle thickness and the neuromuscular activity values and the strength of the muscle at 6 weeks after surgery. These results were seen exclusively in the group of patients who do not develop patellofemoral pain (0.543, p = 0.008). The group of patients who developed anterior knee pain in the postoperative period did not show this correlation (n.s.). Conclusion In patients without patellofemoral pain after meniscectomy, the greater the preoperative thickness of the quadriceps femoris, the more postoperative neuromuscular activation and strength they had. This correlation did not occur in those patients who develop patellofemoral pain after meniscal surgery. Level of evidence II.

Predictive modeling of frailty status in elderly abdominal surgery patients by preoperative quadriceps ultrasound testing

“…In clinical practice, two-dimensional ultrasound is a valuable tool for assessing muscle mass, offering key indicators such as muscle thickness and cross-sectional area [19]. Muscle thickness is a direct indicator of muscle content, while the cross-sectional area is closely associated with muscle strength [20]. Recent studies have shown that the accuracy of ultrasound in measuring quadriceps muscle is comparable to CT scans and aligns well with dualenergy X-ray [21].…”