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Reliability of size and echo intensity of abdominal skeletal muscles using extended field-of-view ultrasound imaging

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the reliability of extended field-of-view (EFOV) ultrasound imaging to evaluate the cross-sectional area (CSA) and echo intensity of abdominal skeletal muscles.

Methods

Twenty-seven healthy young males (age 18.6 ± 1.0 years, body mass index 20.9 ± 2.8 kg/m2, waist circumference 75.0 ± 7.9 cm, body fat 16.6 ± 5.9%) visited the laboratory on 2 days. EFOV ultrasound images of the rectus abdominis, abdominal oblique, and erector spinae muscles were acquired at the height of the third lumbar vertebra with the subject lying on a bed. We then analyzed CSA and echo intensity using ImageJ software and calculated intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEM).

Results

No significant differences (p = 0.149–0.679) were observed in CSA or echo intensity values for each skeletal muscle between days. ICC and SEM values in CSA for each skeletal muscle ranged between 0.944 and 0.958 and 4.9% and 7.3%, respectively. The corresponding values for echo intensity were 0.851–0.945 for ICC and 5.3–9.7% for SEM.

Conclusions

The present results indicate that EFOV ultrasound imaging has high repeatability for measuring CSA and echo intensity of abdominal skeletal muscle groups in healthy college-aged males.

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Abbreviations

ANOVAs:

Analyses of variance

AU:

Arbitrary units

CI:

Confidence interval

CSA:

Cross-sectional area

CT:

Computed tomography

EFOV:

Extended field-of-view

FOV:

Field-of-view

ICC:

Intra-class correlation coefficients

L3:

Third lumbar vertebra

MD:

Minimum difference

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

SD:

Standard deviations

SEM:

Standard error of measurement

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Acknowledgements

This study was funding by the Suzuken Memorial Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Health, Physical Fitness and Sports, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Noriko I. Tanaka & Hiroshi Akima

  2. Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University, 1 Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan

    Noriko I. Tanaka, Madoka Ogawa & Hiroshi Akima

  3. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Ko-jimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan

    Madoka Ogawa

  4. Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8550, Japan

    Akito Yoshiko

  5. Department of Sports Science, Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, 3-15-1 Nishigaoka, Kita-ku, Tokyo, 115-0056, Japan

    Ryosuke Ando

Authors
  1. Noriko I. Tanaka
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  2. Madoka Ogawa
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  3. Akito Yoshiko
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  4. Ryosuke Ando
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  5. Hiroshi Akima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Noriko I. Tanaka.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Communicated by Olivier Seynnes.

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Cite this article

Tanaka, N.I., Ogawa, M., Yoshiko, A. et al. Reliability of size and echo intensity of abdominal skeletal muscles using extended field-of-view ultrasound imaging. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 2263–2270 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3713-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3713-y

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