Objectives: The aim was to explore the inter-reliability of a newly developed US scanning protocol (multimodal US) for the assessment ofdifferent aspects of sarcopenia-related muscle involvement, including muscle mass, muscle quality and muscle stiffness [using pointshear-wave elastography (SWE)], in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).Methods: Quadriceps muscle mass (i.e. muscle thickness), muscle quality (i.e. muscle echogenicity evaluated with both a visualsemi-quantitative scale and a dedicated software package for image analysis, ImageJ) and point SWE measurements were obtained by tworheumatologists (blinded to each other’s evaluation) in consecutive RMD patients without previous/current myositis or neuromuscular disorders.Inter-reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for continuous variables and Cohen’s kappa (j) for categoricalvariables.Results: A total of 45 RMD patients were enrolled [mean age 54.5 (16.0) years, male-to-female ratio 1:1.5, mean BMI 24.6 (4.6) kg/m2], 10 withPsA, 7 RA, 5 AS, 5 PMR, 4 SLE, 4 gout, 4 OA, 3 FM and 3 SSc. The grade of inter-rater reliability was excellent for muscle mass [ICC ¼ 0.969(0.953 < ICC < 0.979)]. Regarding muscle echogenicity, the agreement was substantial/almost perfect using the visual semi-quantitative scale(weighted linear ¼ 0.793, weighted squared ¼ 0.878) and excellent using ImageJ analysis [ICC ¼ 0.916 (0.876 < ICC < 0.944)]. Finally, a goodagreement was obtained for point SWE measurements [ICC ¼ 0.76 (0.712 < ICC < 0.8)].Conclusion: Multimodal US is a novel and reliable tool for the evaluation of different aspects of muscle involvement (muscle mass, musclequality and muscle stiffness) in RMD patients.

Multimodal ultrasound muscle assessment in patients with rheumatic diseases: a patient-based reliability study / Smerilli, Gianluca; Moscioni, Erica; Sclocco, Roberta; Giovanna Lommano, Maria; Cipolletta, Edoardo; Maccarrone, Vincenzo; Farah, Sonia; De Angelis, Rossella; Salaffi, Fausto; Grassi, Walter; Filippucci, Emilio; Di Matteo, Andrea. - In: RHEUMATOLOGY ADVANCES IN PRACTICE. - ISSN 2514-1775. - 7:3(2023). [10.1093/rap/rkad072]

Multimodal ultrasound muscle assessment in patients with rheumatic diseases: a patient-based reliability study

Edoardo Cipolletta;Rossella De Angelis;Fausto Salaffi;Walter Grassi;Emilio Filippucci;Andrea Di Matteo
2023-01-01

Abstract

Objectives: The aim was to explore the inter-reliability of a newly developed US scanning protocol (multimodal US) for the assessment ofdifferent aspects of sarcopenia-related muscle involvement, including muscle mass, muscle quality and muscle stiffness [using pointshear-wave elastography (SWE)], in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).Methods: Quadriceps muscle mass (i.e. muscle thickness), muscle quality (i.e. muscle echogenicity evaluated with both a visualsemi-quantitative scale and a dedicated software package for image analysis, ImageJ) and point SWE measurements were obtained by tworheumatologists (blinded to each other’s evaluation) in consecutive RMD patients without previous/current myositis or neuromuscular disorders.Inter-reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for continuous variables and Cohen’s kappa (j) for categoricalvariables.Results: A total of 45 RMD patients were enrolled [mean age 54.5 (16.0) years, male-to-female ratio 1:1.5, mean BMI 24.6 (4.6) kg/m2], 10 withPsA, 7 RA, 5 AS, 5 PMR, 4 SLE, 4 gout, 4 OA, 3 FM and 3 SSc. The grade of inter-rater reliability was excellent for muscle mass [ICC ¼ 0.969(0.953 < ICC < 0.979)]. Regarding muscle echogenicity, the agreement was substantial/almost perfect using the visual semi-quantitative scale(weighted linear ¼ 0.793, weighted squared ¼ 0.878) and excellent using ImageJ analysis [ICC ¼ 0.916 (0.876 < ICC < 0.944)]. Finally, a goodagreement was obtained for point SWE measurements [ICC ¼ 0.76 (0.712 < ICC < 0.8)].Conclusion: Multimodal US is a novel and reliable tool for the evaluation of different aspects of muscle involvement (muscle mass, musclequality and muscle stiffness) in RMD patients.
2023
frailty; sarcopenia; ultrasonography
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11566/321591
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