Reliability of ultrasound elastography for the quantification of transversus abdominis elasticity

Abstract

BackgroundThe transversus abdominis (TrA), which is considered to be involved in controlling spinal stability, is covered by two muscles (i.e. the external and internal oblique muscles) as well as subcutaneous fat. Therefore, there were doubts about whether it was possible to perform highly reliable measurements of muscle elasticity.PurposeTo investigate the reliability of ultrasound elastography for the quantification of elasticity of the TrA.Material and MethodsA skilled and an unskilled operator of ultrasound elastography measured TrA elasticity in 10 healthy men (age, 24 ± 4 years; height, 172.0 ± 5.2 cm; weight, 72.3 ± 12.0 kg) in the supine position. The tests were repeated six times; of the six measured values, a group of four measurements showing the lowest coefficient of variation (CV) was adopted and the mean values were used for further analysis. This procedure was repeated twice on each participant on two different days.ResultsThe intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) between days for skilled and unskilled operators were 0.86 (P < 0.00) and 0.59 (P = 0.02), respectively, and the CVs were 8.7% and 13.8%, respectively. The ICCs between operators and CVs were in the range of 0.56–0.57 (P = 0.02–0.03) and 13.5–15.5%, respectively. No systematic error was found for any comparison.ConclusionThe reliabilities of the skilled and unskilled operators were high and moderate, respectively.

Shear Wave Elastography Is a Reliable and Repeatable Method for Measuring the Elastic Modulus of the Rectus Femoris Muscle and Patellar Tendon

“…Lacourpaille et al have that reliability levels for SWE ranged from fair to excellent (ICC, 0.421–0.950) in a study including 9 different muscles (gastrocnemius medialis, tibialis anterior, vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, triceps brachii, biceps brachii, brachioradialis, adductor pollicis obliquus and abductor digiti minimi). Hirayama et al reported that the intraobserver reliability of SWE in the transversus abdominis muscle ranged from fair to excellent (ICC, 0.59–0.86); however, the interobserver reliability ranged from fair to good (ICC, 0.56–0.57). Cortez et al reported that the medial gastrosoleus and tibialis muscles had fair to good levels of intraobserver (ICC, 0.42–0.70) and interobserver (ICC, 0.69–0.73) reliability.…”

“…[10][11][12] Although SWE has been used in studies conducted on individuals with muscle and tendon injuries and healthy individuals, contradicting results have been reported about the reliability of SWE. [13][14][15][16][17] The aim of this study was to determine intraobserver, interobserver, and interday reliability levels for measurements by SWE in the patellar tendon and rectus femoris muscle in healthy sedentary male individuals.…”

Feasibility assessment of shear wave elastography to lumbar back muscles

“…Moreau et al () found a SM of 8.6 kPa (shear modulus) at level L2–L3 and 6.9 kPa at level L4–L5 in the multifidus at rest in prone position using SWE, and Chan et al () found a YM of 36 kPa, which corresponds to SM = 12 kPa, using strain elastography. By extension to other trunk muscles, mean stiffness using SWE ranged from 3.5 kPa for the internal oblique to 22 kPa for the external oblique (Hirayama et al, ; Tran et al, ). Such variability could result from significant interindividual and intermuscular stiffness differences.…”

Shear-wave elastography for assessment of trapezius muscle stiffness: Reliability and association with low-level muscle activity

“…force) and strain (deformation). A growing body of literature demonstrates the utility of SWE method for assessing muscle stiffness [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The shear modulus obtained with SWE has been validated for assessing muscle stiffnes, by using isolated meat speciments and comparing it to direct mechanical stiffness measures.…”