Reliability of the rectus femoris muscle cross‐sectional area measurements by ultrasonography

Abstract

The skeletal muscle system can adapt to an external stimulus from either physiological or pathological conditions. This plasticity is measured by imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound. The anatomical cross-sectional area of a muscle is one of the muscle architecture parameters that relates to the maximum muscle strength. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of anatomical cross-sectional area rectus femoris measurements, obtained by ultrasound, with two different protocols. Acquisition of four anatomical cross-sectional area images of the right rectus femoris in two distinct regions (15 cm above the patella and 50% of the thigh length) was performed in 2 days, from a group of 15 young healthy subjects. The cross-sectional area of each image was measured five times. The reliability of the anatomical cross-sectional area measures was determined by the coefficient of variation (CV), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and typical error of measurement (TEM). In each protocol, there were no significant differences between the means of anatomical cross-sectional area in measurements, images and days (P>0·05). The CVs were 8·53% and 8·9%, the ICCs 0·88 and 0·87 and the TEMs 65·59 and 94·25 between the 2 days in the regions of 15 cm and 50% of the thigh length, respectively. The average values of the cross-sectional area at 50% of the thigh length were significantly higher than those for at 15 cm above the patella (P<0·001). The measurement of rectus femoris anatomical cross-sectional area by ultrasound proved reliable.

Reliability of biceps femoris and semitendinosus muscle architecture measurements obtained with ultrasonography

“…The architecture parameters can be well visualized by ultrasound at rest or during contraction (Gomes et al, 2010;Martins et al, 2012;Potier et al, 2009;Timmins et al, 2015). The reliability of muscle architecture measurements assessed using ultrasound is reported in many studies with different methodologies involving repeated measures between images, sessions, and raters (Legerlotz et al, 2010;Lima et al, 2012). These studies have been important to determine a reproducibility of muscle architecture parameters which are measured very often in training and rehabilitation protocols.…”

“…These studies have been important to determine a reproducibility of muscle architecture parameters which are measured very often in training and rehabilitation protocols. Concerning the lower limbs, reliability studies in vivo are described for the knee extensors (Lima et al, 2012;Noorkoiv et al, 2010) and gastrocnemius muscles (Legerlotz et al, 2010;Martins et al, 2012). The reliability of muscle architecture measurements of the knee flexors, using ultrasound, is less examined in vivo (Chleboun et al, 2001;Gomes et al, 2010;Timmins et al, 2015).…”

“…Fiber length, pennation angle and muscle thickness are commonly measured as architecture parameters (Blazevich et al, 2006;Gomes et al, 2010;Lima et al, 2012;Martins et al, 2012). Technological advances in imaging techniques, as magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound, enable to estimate muscle architecture parameters in vivo (Blazevich et al, 2006;Chleboun et al, 2001;Lima et al, 2012). The architecture parameters can be well visualized by ultrasound at rest or during contraction (Gomes et al, 2010;Martins et al, 2012;Potier et al, 2009;Timmins et al, 2015).…”

Imagerie et spectroscopie par résonance magnétique nucléaire du muscle strié squelettique

“…Même si l'exactitude des mesures est rarement évaluée, car nécessitant des autopsies, d'excellents résultats furent rapportés dans les cas où elle put être déterminée (Mitsiopoulos et al 1998). En outre, il a été systématiquement montré que la reproductivité et le pouvoir discriminant de l'imagerie par RMN sont très élevés (Wagner et al 2008 ;Fischmann et al 2013 ;Barnouin et al 2014 ;Thomas et al 2014), au moins autant qu'avec les ultrasons (Lima et al 2012) ou la tomodensitométrie aux rayons X (Strandberg et al 2010), et avec l'avantage d'une caractérisation tissulaire (voir paragraphe ci-dessous) très supérieure. Les exemples suivants illustrent la capacité de la RMN à identifier de subtils changements de trophicité du muscle.…”

Skeletal Muscle Quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy as an Outcome Measure for Clinical Trials (Part I)

“…Точность измере-ния оценивается редко, поскольку это требует получе-ния образцов аутопсии, однако в случаях, когда это было возможно, полученные результаты были весьма высоки [34]. Кроме того, воспроизводимость резуль-татов и дискриминационную силу оценивали регуляр-но, и они также были признаны очень высокими [35][36][37][38] и не уступающими данным, полученным при ультразвуковом исследовании [39] или КТ [40] (см. ниже).…”