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We read with great interest the work by Kofler et al. [1], in which the authors elegantly demonstrated that temporal muscle atrophy is a prognostic marker in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. From the inclusion criteria, the methods applied to temporal muscle atrophy measurement and the careful definition when the computed tomography scans were performed, among other meticulously described methodological details, greatly enrich the research [1]. Despite all the methodological rigor, could we assume that the delay in oral diet starting with meals that require the masticatory muscles would be largely responsible for temporal muscle percentage atrophy? Or even if the caloric intake and mastication muscles use the muscle atrophy would remain the same or progress more slowly? We believe such answers are not available yet, but because this research is from an observational cohort, including these data, possibly available in the medical records, could further enrich future similar articles. Analyzing these variables and the edentulism of the patients included in the study, we could infer that temporal muscle atrophy is an independent marker in the prognosis or an indirect measure of the disuse of the masticatory muscles [2,3,4,5].
References
Kofler M, Reitmeir P, Glodny B, et al. The loss of temporal muscle volume is associated with poor outcome in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage: an observational cohort study. Neurocrit Care. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12028-023-01751-z.
Nozoe M, Kubo H, Kanai M, Yamamoto M, Okakita M, Suzuki H, et al. Reliability and validity of measuring temporal muscle thickness as the evaluation of sarcopenia risk and the relationship with functional outcome in older patients with acute stroke. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2021;201:106444.
Gonçalves RCG, Rabelo NN, Figueiredo EG, Welling LC. Oral health and temporal muscle thickness. Surg Neurol Int. 2021;12:527.
Yamaguchi K, Tohara H, Hara K, Nakane A, Kajisa E, Yoshimi K, et al. Relationship of aging, skeletal muscle mass, and tooth loss with masseter muscle thickness. BMC Geriatr. 2018;18(1):67.
Bhoyar PS, Godbole SR, Thombare RU, Pakhan AJ. Effect of complete edentulism on masseter muscle thickness and changes after complete denture rehabilitation: an ultrasonographic study. J Investig Clin Dent. 2012;3(1):45–50.
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Leonardo C. Welling: conception and design. Leonardo de Barros Oliveira: conception and design. Nicollas N. Rabelo: conception and design. Eberval G. Figueiredo: critical revision. All authors approved the final manuscript.
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This article is related to the original article available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12028-023-01751-z. This article is a response to the Letter to the Editor available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12028-023-01835-w.
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Welling, L.C., de Barros Oliveira, L., Rabelo, N.N. et al. Temporal Muscle Atrophy: An Independent Prognosis Biomarker or Secondary to Disuse?. Neurocrit Care 39, 550 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12028-023-01834-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12028-023-01834-x