Shear Wave Elastography for Detecting Calf Muscle Stiffness: An Effective Tool for Assessing Sarcopenia

• Published in: Journal of ultrasound in medicine Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 891 - 900
• Main Authors: Wang, Zecheng, Lyu, Guorong, Zhong, Huohu, Yan, Lisheng, Xu, Zhenhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2023
• Subjects: appendicular skeletal muscle mass index; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; gait speed; Humans; Leg; Lower Extremity; medial gastrocnemius muscle; Muscle, Skeletal - diagnostic imaging; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Sarcopenia - diagnostic imaging; shear wave velocity; soleus muscle; tibialis anterior muscle; gait speed; shear wave velocity; tibialis anterior muscle; appendicular skeletal muscle mass index; medial gastrocnemius muscle; soleus muscle
• DOI: 10.1002/jum.16082
• ISSN: 0278-4297

Objectives To explore the feasibility of shear wave elastography for evaluating sarcopenia. Methods The shear wave velocities (SWV) of the tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius, and soleus were measured in 130 subjects in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from January 2021 to June 2022. Consistency was evaluated in 20 cases using the intraclass correlation coefficient. According to the 2019 Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia（AWGS） diagnostic criteria, the patients were divided into a healthy and a sarcopenia group. The differences in SWV between the two groups were compared, and their correlation between calf muscles and muscle mass, grip strength, and pace were analyzed. The diagnostic cutoff value of calf muscle SWV for sarcopenia was obtained using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and the diagnostic efficacy of different ROC curves was compared. Results The SWV inter‐group and intra‐group correlation coefficients of the three lower limbs muscles were all greater than 0.85. Moreover, the corresponding SWV in the sarcopenia group were significantly smaller than those in the healthy control group (P < .05). Further, SWV were positively correlated with the appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI), grip strength, and gait speed. Finally, the SWV of the anterior tibialis and medial gastrocnemius muscles were 3.02 and 2.26 m/s, respectively, and their diagnostic efficacy for sarcopenia did not differ significantly (Z = 0.190, P = .8497). Conclusion SWE can be used to detect the hardness of the anterior tibialis and medial gastrocnemius, calculate their muscle mass as an effective tool to evaluate sarcopenia.