Muscle echo intensity of abdominal wall in Parkinson’s disease and healthy controls: a cross sectional study

• Published in: Neurological sciences 2020-11, Vol.41 (11), p.3201-3207
• Main Authors: Bissolotti, Luciano, Ruggeri, Janis, Rota, Matteo, Calza, Stefano, Cosimo, Costantino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdominal Muscles - diagnostic imaging; Abdominal Wall - diagnostic imaging; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Italy; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosurgery; Original Article; Parkinson Disease - diagnostic imaging; Psychiatry
• ISSN: 1590-1874; 1590-3478
• DOI: 10.1007/s10072-020-04440-3

Purpose The aim of this study was to describe the differences between abdominal wall muscles echo intensity (EI) in PD patients and healthy controls. Methods Forty-three consecutive PD patients (25 males and 18 females, age 73.7 ± 7.1, and 42 controls without neurological diseases (22 males, 20 females, age 69.8 ± 6.0) participated in this cross-sectional study. The clinical assessment included the following: IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), Hoehn Yahr score, plumb line distance from the spinous process of C7, kyphosis apex, and spinous process of L3 and S1. A real-time ultrasound B-scanner (system MyLab40 by Esaote, Genoa, Italy) was used to obtain muscle images of the right and left biceps brachii (BB), external (EO), and internal oblique (IO) and rectus abdomen (RA). Heckmatt scale and measure of EI through ImageJ software were used to assess muscle quality. Results When considering the Heckmatt score, the RA and BB did not significantly differ between PD and control patients, while there was a significant difference for right ( p