Abstract
Determination of skeletal muscle architecture is important for accurately modeling muscle behavior. Current methods for 3D muscle architecture determination can be costly and time-consuming, making them prohibitive for clinical or modeling applications. Computational approaches such as Laplacian flow simulations can estimate muscle fascicle orientation based on muscle shape and aponeurosis location. The accuracy of this approach is unknown, however, since it has not been validated against other standards for muscle architecture determination. In this study, muscle architectures from the Laplacian approach were compared to those determined from diffusion tensor imaging in eight adult medial gastrocnemius muscles. The datasets were subdivided into training and validation sets, and computational fluid dynamics software was used to conduct Laplacian simulations. In training sets, inputs of muscle geometry, aponeurosis location, and geometric flow guides resulted in good agreement between methods. Application of the method to validation sets showed no significant differences in pennation angle (mean difference \(0.5{^{\circ }})\) or fascicle length (mean difference 0.9 mm). Laplacian simulation was thus effective at predicting gastrocnemius muscle architectures in healthy volunteers using imaging-derived muscle shape and aponeurosis locations. This method may serve as a tool for determining muscle architecture in silico and as a complement to other approaches.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Whitaker International Program, the Wishbone Trust of the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association (Grant No. Wishbone Trust 3710689), and NHMRC Grant APP1055084 for financial support of this work. Additionally, we are grateful to the helpful feedback of Anne Agur and Hon Fai Choi.
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Author RH discloses funding from the NHMRC which contributed to the outcomes of this study. Author GH is an author of the following patents pending: WIPO Patent Application WO/2013/023214 An MRI-Based Muscle-Modeling Tool for Diagnosing Muscle Impairments, PCT Patent Application PCT/US2015/039162 System and Related Methods for Determining Muscle Hypertrophy Patterns in Collegiate Athletes Related to Performance.
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Handsfield, G.G., Bolsterlee, B., Inouye, J.M. et al. Determining skeletal muscle architecture with Laplacian simulations: a comparison with diffusion tensor imaging. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 16, 1845–1855 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0923-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-017-0923-5