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Session: Neuro-muscular – lower extremities 2
Session starts: Friday 25 January, 13:00
Presentation starts: 13:15
Room: Lecture room 536

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Cristina Caresio (Cardiovascular Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology)

Abstract:
Ultrasound (US) skeletal muscle measurement is a fundamental procedure in muscle functionality assessment. Dynamic contraction implies muscle anatomical deformation, which depends on exercise type and intensity. Muscle thickness reflects the potential to generate force and has therefore been investigated in adaptations occurring with training, disuse, pain/injury and pathological conditions. Although previous works have examined the muscle thickness change during dynamic exercise, the information on deformation in realistic long-lasting non-isometric walking conditions are insufficient. No continuous thickness measurement has been proposed in literature, due to the unfeasibility of manual measurements and the lack of US probe fixation systems. In a pilot study, the feasibility and reproducibility of continuous dynamic US muscle thickness measurement during walking exercise are evaluated. 8 healthy subjects (age: 24.5 ± 1.9 y, BMI: 22.8 ± 3.0 kg/m2) are asked to walk at 4 km/h on a treadmill (LifeFitness, Illinois, USA), performing a 2-minutes’walk with a slope of 0 degrees and a 1-minute walk with a slope of 10 degrees. US videos of the medial gastrocnemius are recorded at 20 Hz with a MyLab70 ultrasound device equipped with a linear LA523 transducer (Esaote, Maastricht, The Netherlands) and fixated on the calf using a Probefix Dynamic (USONO, Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Dynamic US images are analysed on two disjoined 10-seconds intervals per exercise with an automated algorithm for the continuous thickness measurement, namely the distance between the muscle aponeuroses and calculated with the Centerline distance metric. The percentage of incorrect muscle aponeuroses detection is below 0.1%. The averaged muscle thickness at 0 degrees slope is 15.4 ± 0.2 mm, ranging between 9.6 - 21.5 mm and 15.5 ± 0.4 mm between 9.9 – 21.6 mm at 10 degrees slope. No significant difference has been detected in paired comparisons of 10-seconds intervals within the same exercise. The proposed method shows that continuous US skeletal muscle thickness measurement is feasible and reproducible during different walking exercises and time intervals. In the future, a validation with manual measurements will be performed to complete the study. These preliminary results will provide understanding on the applicability of the proposed methods for continuous muscle measurement in clinical practice.