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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Obtaining Quality Extended Field-of-View Ultrasound Images of Skeletal Muscle to Measure Muscle Fascicle Length
Published on: December 14, 2020
Skeletal muscle ultrasound: correlation between fibrous tissue and echo intensity
Sigrid Pillen1, Ramon O Tak, Machiel J Zwarts
1Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. s.pillen@cukz.umcn.nl
Abstract:
In this study, we examined the correlation between muscle ultrasound and muscle structure. Echo intensity (EI) of 14 muscles of two golden retriever muscular dystrophy dogs was correlated to the percentage interstitial fibrous tissue and fat in muscle biopsy. A significant correlation between interstitial fibrous tissue and EI was found (r = 0.87; p < 0.001). The separate influence of interstitial fat on muscle EI could not be established as only little fat was present. We conclude that fibrous tissue causes increased muscle EI. The high correlation between interstitial fibrous tissue and EI makes ultrasound a reliable method to determine severity of structural muscle changes.
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