The role of MRI in the evaluation of muscle diseases

The aim of the work: To assess the role of MRI in the early detection and evaluation of some muscle diseases and its prognostic value for the follow up. Patients and methods: The study is carried out on 40 patients (20 males and 20 females) suffering from different muscle diseases and 8 control group patients (4 males and 4 females); 27.5% are below 20 years of age, 35% are between 21 and 40 years and 37.5% are above 40. A conventional MRI study is performed on all patients; to study the value of qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses for the estimation of full disease extent and the follow up. The Spearman correlation coefficient model is used to correlate the semi-quantitative MR imaging grade and clinical assessments. Proton MRS is also performed to quantify the key intra-myocellular metabolites. Results: Calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and gluteus maximus muscle had the highest T2 values. The mean T2 values and semiquantitative MR imaging grade of fatty infiltration and edema show a significant correlation with the clinical grading of muscle power. Conclusion: MRI is a useful tool for assessing muscle diseases particularly with the implementation of the up to date analytic methods. (C) 2013 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.