Assessment of Calf Skeletal Muscle in Male Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients With Different Courses Using T1ρ Mapping

• Published in: The journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2022-03, Vol.107 (4), p.e1699-e1709
• Main Authors: Zhao, Yufei, Guo, Li, Jiang, Yang, Wu, Honghong, Dai, Jingyue, Cui, Ying, Mao, Hui, Ju, Shenghong, Wei, Qiong, Peng, Xin-Gui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blood Glucose; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Leg - diagnostic imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Muscle, Skeletal - diagnostic imaging; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
• ISSN: 0021-972X; 1945-7197
• DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgab817

The current clinical methods for detecting skeletal muscle complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are invasive and insensitive. There is an urgent need for noninvasive assessment of skeletal muscle microstructure changes during the disease progression and treatment to assist the clinical management. This work aimed to investigate the T2DM caused changes in the fast-twitch tibialis anterior (TA) and slow-twitch soleus (SOL) skeletal muscles using T1ρ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This cross-sectional study took place from December 2014 to December 2020 at Zhongda Hospital Southeast University. A total of 26 new-onset and 15 long-term T2DM patients were enrolled, with the addition of 20 young and 13 older healthy volunteers as age-matched controls. T1ρ relaxation times of SOL and TA muscles in different groups were measured. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used to analyze the relationship between the T1ρ values in SOL and TA muscles and the length of illness, level of fasting blood glucose, and status of homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). T1ρ relaxation times of SOL and TA muscles both of new-onset and long-term T2DM patients were significantly higher than those of the young (P