Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8131400 | Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology | 2018 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
The need is increasing for progression biomarkers that allow the loss of motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to be monitored in clinical trials. In this prospective longitudinal study, muscle thickness, echointensity, echovariation and gray level co-occurrence matrix textural features are examined as possible progression ultrasound biomarkers in ALS patients during a 5-mo follow-up period. We subjected 13 patients to 3 measurements for 20âwk. They showed a significant loss of muscle, an evident tendency to loss of thickness and increased echointensity and echovariation. In regard to textural parameters, muscle heterogeneity tended to increase as a result of the neoformation of non-contractile tissue through denervation. Considering some limitations of the study, the quantitative muscle ultrasound biomarkers evaluated showed a promising ability to monitor patients affected by ALS.
Keywords
Related Topics
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Physics and Astronomy
Acoustics and Ultrasonics
Authors
Jacinto J. MartÃnez-Payá, José RÃos-DÃaz, Francesc Medina-Mirapeix, Juan F. Vázquez-Costa, MarÃa Elena del Baño-Aledo,