Reliability of panoramic ultrasound imaging in simultaneously examining muscle size and quality of the hamstring muscles in young, healthy males and females

Ty B Palmer; Kazuma Akehi; Ryan M Thiele; Doug B Smith; Brennan J Thompson

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.10.011

Reliability of panoramic ultrasound imaging in simultaneously examining muscle size and quality of the hamstring muscles in young, healthy males and females

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015 Mar;41(3):675-84. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.10.011.

Authors

Ty B Palmer¹, Kazuma Akehi², Ryan M Thiele¹, Doug B Smith¹, Brennan J Thompson³

Affiliations

¹ Applied Musculoskeletal and Human Physiology Research Laboratory, Department of Health and Human Performance, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA.
² Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska, USA.
³ Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA. Electronic address: brennan.thompson@ttu.edu.

PMID: 25683219
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.10.011

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of ultrasound (US) measures of cross-sectional area (CSA), muscle thickness (MT) and echo intensity (EI) of the hamstrings, with comparisons between males and females. In 20 healthy participants (10 males, 10 females), CSA, MT and EI were measured from panoramic US scans of the hamstrings on 2 separate days. The intra-class correlation coefficients and standard errors of measurement as a percentage of the mean for CSA, MT and EI ranged from 0.715 to 0.984 and from 3.145 to 12.541% in the males and from 0.724 to 0.977 and from 4.571 to 17.890% in the females, respectively. The males had greater CSAs and MTs and lower EIs than the females (p = 0.002-0.049), and significant relationships were observed between CSA and MT (r = 0.714-0.938, p ≤ 0.001-0.023). From an overall reliability standpoint, these findings suggest that panoramic US may be a reliable technique for examining muscle size and quality of the hamstrings in both males and females.

Keywords: Biceps femoris; Cross-sectional area; Echo intensity; Gender; Muscle thickness; Semimembranosus; Semitendinosus.

MeSH terms

Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Leg / anatomy & histology
Leg / diagnostic imaging*
Male
Muscle, Skeletal / anatomy & histology
Muscle, Skeletal / diagnostic imaging*
Organ Size
Patient Positioning
Reproducibility of Results
Ultrasonography
Young Adult