Chest Dynamic MRI as Early Biomarker of Respiratory Impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients: A Pilot Study

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular progressive disorder characterized by limb and bulbar muscle wasting and weakness. A total of 30% of patients present a bulbar onset, while 70% have a spinal outbreak. Respiratory involvement represents one of the worst prognostic factors, and i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical medicine 2024-05, Vol.13 (11), p.3103
Main Authors: Barbato, Francesco, Bombaci, Alessandro, Colacicco, Giovanni, Bruno, Giorgia, Ippolito, Domenico, Pota, Vincenzo, Dongiovanni, Salvatore, Sica, Giacomo, Bocchini, Giorgio, Valente, Tullio, Scaglione, Mariano, Mainenti, Pier Paolo, Guarino, Salvatore
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Biomarkers
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Genetic aspects
Magnetic resonance imaging
Medical prognosis
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Nervous system diseases
Neuromuscular diseases
Ostomy
Pathophysiology
Patients
Respiratory failure
Spirometry
Statistical analysis
Tracheotomy
Ventilation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular progressive disorder characterized by limb and bulbar muscle wasting and weakness. A total of 30% of patients present a bulbar onset, while 70% have a spinal outbreak. Respiratory involvement represents one of the worst prognostic factors, and its early identification is fundamental for the early starting of non-invasive ventilation and for the stratification of patients. Due to the lack of biomarkers of early respiratory impairment, we aimed to evaluate the role of chest dynamic MRI in ALS patients. We enrolled 15 ALS patients and 11 healthy controls. We assessed the revised ALS functional rating scale, spirometry, and chest dynamic MRI. Data were analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U test and Cox regression analysis. We observed a statistically significant difference in both respiratory parameters and pulmonary measurements at MRI between ALS patients and healthy controls. Moreover, we found a close relationship between pulmonary measurements at MRI and respiratory parameters, which was statistically significant after multivariate analysis. A sub-group analysis including ALS patients without respiratory symptoms and with normal spirometry values revealed the superiority of chest dynamic MRI measurements in detecting signs of early respiratory impairment. Our data suggest the usefulness of chest dynamic MRI, a fast and economically affordable examination, in the evaluation of early respiratory impairment in ALS patients.
ISSN:2077-0383
2077-0383
DOI:10.3390/jcm13113103