Evaluation of dystrophic dog pathology by fat-suppressed T2-weighted imaging

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating muscle disorder that is characterized by progressive muscle necrosis, fibrosis, and fatty infiltration. To examine the temporospatial pathological changes, a noninvasive evaluation method such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is needed. The aim of this study was to precisely assess muscle necrosis and inflammation based on a sequence of T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), gadolinium-enhanced imaging, and selective fat suppression, chemical shift selective T2-weighted imaging (CHESS-T2WI), on a 3.0-Tesla MRI unit in 3-month-old and 7-year-old dogs with canine X-linked muscular dystrophy (CXMD(J)), a suitable animal model for DMD. The results show that CHESS-T2WI was more sensitive and useful from the early to late stages of CXMD(J) than T2WI or contrast enhancement imaging in the evaluation of muscle necrosis, because these latter sequences can be influenced by fatty infiltration or interstitial connective tissues.