Introduction: Quantitative MRI techniques detect disease progression in myopathies more sensitively than muscle function measures or conventional MRI. To date, only conventional MRI data using visual rating scales are available for measurement of disease progression in Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD).
Methods: In 3 patients with BMD (mean age 36.8 years), the mean fat fraction (MFF) of the thigh muscles was assessed by MRI at baseline and at 1-year follow-up using a 2-point Dixon approach (2PD). The motor function measurement scale (MFM) was used for clinical assessment.
Results: The mean MFF of all muscles at baseline was 61.6% (SD 7.6). It increased by 3.7% to 65.3% (SD 4.7) at follow-up. The severity of muscle involvement varied between various muscle groups.
Conclusions: As in other myopathies, 2PD can quantify fatty muscle degeneration in BMD and can detect disease progression in a small sample size and at relatively short imaging intervals.
Keywords: 2-point Dixon method; Becker muscular dystrophy; follow-up; muscle fat fraction; quantitative MRI.
© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.