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Transcutaneous innervation zone imaging from high-density surface electromyography recordings.
Yang Liu1, Chuan Zhang, Nicholas Dias
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, United States of America.
Journal of Neural Engineering
|January 4, 2020
Summary
A new transcutaneous innervation zone imaging (TIZI) technique accurately maps muscle innervation zones noninvasively. This method overcomes signal distortion from fat tissue, offering improved diagnosis and treatment for neuromuscular conditions.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Neuroscience
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Accurate localization of innervation zones (IZs) is crucial for diagnosing and treating neuromuscular diseases.
- Noninvasive localization of IZs using surface electromyography (sEMG) is challenging due to signal distortion from subcutaneous fat.
- Existing methods lack precision in mapping the true IZ distribution over the muscle surface.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an innovative transcutaneous innervation zone imaging (TIZI) technique.
- To precisely and efficiently localize IZ distribution in vivo using high-density sEMG (HD-sEMG).
- To overcome the limitations of signal distortion caused by biological tissues.
Main Methods:
- The TIZI technique integrates HD-sEMG recording, signal decomposition, finite element analysis, and inverse calculation.
- Performance evaluation was conducted using simulated sEMG signals and experimental data from healthy and stroke participants.
- Accuracy was validated by Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and localization error (LE) against true IZ distribution.
Main Results:
- Simulations showed high PCCs (up to 99.85%) at various depths with a 25 dB SNR.
- Experimental validation on flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) muscles yielded high PCCs (98.74% in healthy, 97.82% in spastic).
- TIZI demonstrated significantly reduced localization errors (1.4-2.02 mm) compared to skin observations (7.42-7.8 mm).
Conclusions:
- The TIZI technique effectively images skeletal muscle IZ distribution noninvasively.
- This method overcomes signal blurring/distorting effects from low-conductive fat and high-conductive skin tissues.
- TIZI offers a promising tool for clinical applications, including guiding botulinum neurotoxin injections for spasticity management.
