Scafoglieri, A.; Van den Broeck, J.; Bartocci, P.; Cattrysse, E.; Jager-Wittenaar, H.; Gonzalez, M.C. Skeletal Muscle Echo Intensity Values Differ Significantly across Ultrasound Parameter Settings. Life2024, 14, 291.
Scafoglieri, A.; Van den Broeck, J.; Bartocci, P.; Cattrysse, E.; Jager-Wittenaar, H.; Gonzalez, M.C. Skeletal Muscle Echo Intensity Values Differ Significantly across Ultrasound Parameter Settings. Life 2024, 14, 291.
Scafoglieri, A.; Van den Broeck, J.; Bartocci, P.; Cattrysse, E.; Jager-Wittenaar, H.; Gonzalez, M.C. Skeletal Muscle Echo Intensity Values Differ Significantly across Ultrasound Parameter Settings. Life2024, 14, 291.
Scafoglieri, A.; Van den Broeck, J.; Bartocci, P.; Cattrysse, E.; Jager-Wittenaar, H.; Gonzalez, M.C. Skeletal Muscle Echo Intensity Values Differ Significantly across Ultrasound Parameter Settings. Life 2024, 14, 291.
Abstract
Background: According to EWGSOP2, the diagnosis of sarcopenia is confirmed when in addition to low muscle strength, low muscle quantity or quality is present. Echo intensity (EI) determined by muscle ultrasound (US) has been proposed as an efficient method for the assessment of muscle quality. The effect of changing various US parameter settings on EI remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the differences between EI values obtained by adjusting parameter settings over their entire range in a sample of middle-aged healthy subjects.
Methods: Thirty-two repeated US scans of rectus femoris (RF) and rectus abdominis (RA) muscles were taken in eight men and three women with a portable Mindray M7 premium US machine, working in an Extended field-of-view, B-Mode setup, equipped with a linear 5.0-10.0 MHz transducer. The following US parameters and settings were fixed: gain 60dB, depth 6.5cm, and frequency 10 MHz. Readily adjustable parameters were dynamic range (DR), gray map (GM), line density, persistence, and IClear. A default setting DR65 was chosen as the reference setting. For each of the parameters, the settings of one single parameter of interest was changed over its entire range following a standardized protocol. The EI values were calculated using the open-source software ImageJ. Repeated measures analyses were performed to evaluate the effect of parameter settings on EI. Linear interpolation was used to determine non-significant ranges across a given parameter.
Results: For the RF muscle, the EI values were significantly different across DR (p<0.001), GM (p<0.001), and IClear (p<0.001). Post hoc analysis confirmed the differences within these three settings. Echo intensity values within the range of DR55 to DR80 were not significantly different. For the RA muscle, the EI values were significantly different across DR (p=0.004) and GM (p=0.030). Post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed no significant difference with the default setting, except for DR150 (p=0.042).
Conclusion: We showed that EI values differ across the DR and GM range, especially in the RF. We suggest using a DR setting within its midrange to minimize the effect of machine setting-dependent factors on EI values. These findings reconfirm the need for standardization of ultrasound echo intensity settings when applied for diagnostic purposes of muscle quality.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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