Quantitative ultrasound image analysis of the supraspinatus muscle.

Abstract

To develop and validate a method, based on quantitative ultrasound image analysis, to objectively analyse and characterize the ultrasound images of m. supraspinatus. Quantitative ultrasonography was performed on the supraspinatus muscle of 14 healthy subjects. A computerized analysis using first-order grey-scale statistics to evaluate the muscle tissue composition was developed and validated. Data from one scanning site were not representative for the whole muscle due to muscle inhomogenity. Using first-order grey-scale statistics the scanning direction was of no importance. By using a scanning session consisting of three different scanning sites along the muscle in two directions, longitudinally and transversely, to characterize the tissue composition of the muscle, a high day-to-day reproducibility was obtained. The described scanning session is a relatively sensitive and reproducible method for studying the muscle tissue composition. RelevanceQuantitative ultrasonography seems to be a potential clinical and occupational examination method to detect tissue composition of myalgic muscles compared to healthy muscles.