Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography in Assessment of Muscle Stiffness in Patients with Parkinson's disease: A Primary Observation

• Published in: Clinical imaging 2016-11, Vol.40 (6), p.1075-1080
• Main Authors: Du, Li-juan, He, Wen, Cheng, Ling-gang, Li, Shuo, Pan, Yue-song, Gao, Jing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alloy solidification; Arm - diagnostic imaging; Arm - physiology; Arm - physiopathology; Assessments; Biceps brachii muscle; Confidence intervals; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Disease control; Elastic Modulus; Elasticity Imaging Techniques - methods; Feasibility studies; Female; Humans; Male; Mechanical properties; Middle Aged; Modulus of elasticity; Movement disorders; Muscle function; Muscle, Skeletal - diagnostic imaging; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Muscle, Skeletal - physiopathology; Muscles; Neurodegenerative diseases; Observer Variation; Panic attacks; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson's disease; Patients; Radiology; Reproducibility of Results; Scanners; Shear wave elastography; Software; Stiffness; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography - methods; Ultrasound; Young's modulus
• ISSN: 0899-7071; 1873-4499
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2016.05.008

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to assess the capability of ultrasound shear wave elastography in evaluating the muscle stiffness in patients with Parkinson's diseases (PD). Methods Ultrasound Shear wave elastography (SWE) of the longitudinal biceps brachii was performed on 46 patients with PD and 31 healthy controls from May 2013 to October 2013. The stiffness of the biceps brachii muscles measured with quantitative Young's modulus (kPa) was compared between the remarkably symptomatic arms and mildly symptomatic arms in the PD, and between PD and controls with unpaired t test. The correlation between the Young's modulus of the biceps brachii measured by SWE and motion scores assessed by unified Parkinson's disease rating scale(UPDRS)part III was analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. The reliability of SWE in assessment of biceps brachii stiffness was tested using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results The mean Young's modulus of biceps brachii in remarkably symptomatic arms, mildly symptomatic arms, and healthy controls was 59.94 ± 20.91 kPa, 47.77 ± 24.00 kPa, and 24.28 ± 5.09 kPa, respectively. A significant difference in Young's modulus of biceps brachii was found between healthy controls and all PD patients (all p < 0.05) however it was not between remarkably symptomatic and mildly symptomatic arms A positive linear correlation was found between the Young's modulus of the biceps brachii and the motion score by UPDRS in patients with PD (r = 0.646, P = 0.000). The ICC for inter-observer and intra-observer variation in measuring Young's modulus of the biceps brachii with SWE was 0.74 (95% confidence interval 0.68–0.78) and 0.78 (95% confidence interval 0.75–0.82), respectively. Conclusions SWE of the biceps brachii can be used as a quantitative assessment of muscle stiffness in the patients with PD.