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Reproducibility of sonographic soft-tissue measurement of the head and neck
D Undine Piso1, A Eckardt, A Liebermann
1Department for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical School Hannover, Carl-Neuberg Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Objective:
Effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage in the head and neck region is not supported by evidence-based data. The objective of this study was to verify if the chosen locations enable the measurement of reproducible skin-to-bone distances without marking the measurement place, providing, therefore, adequate sites for long-term follow-up of the soft tissue width.
Methods:
Sonographic measurement was performed in 21 healthy volunteers by the same examiner on three consecutive days. Skin-to-bone distance was measured each time at five defined locations over the mandible and hyoid.
Results:
The average deviation caused by consecutive measurements was estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.2 mm for the different locations. When comparing right-to-left average skin-to-bone distances, differences of a maximum of 1 mm were measured.
Conclusions:
Sonographic soft tissue width, as measured by the skin-to-bone distance at defined sites of the head and neck, is highly reproducible in healthy adults without marking these measurement sites. These regions can, therefore, be used to quantify the effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage for head and neck lymphedema by monitoring the course of the skin-to-bone distance.
