Skeletal Muscle Disease: Imaging Findings Simplified.

Area of Science:

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Radiology
• Neurology

Background:

• Skeletal muscle constitutes a major structural component of the human body.
• Myopathy, encompassing diverse acute and chronic skeletal muscle diseases, can arise from congenital, traumatic, infectious, or neoplastic causes.
• Despite skeletal muscle's physiological significance, its imaging has been less emphasized compared to musculoskeletal imaging of bones and joints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To underscore the critical role of imaging in the detection and characterization of myopathy.
• To delineate the most appropriate imaging modalities for diagnosing myopathies.
• To review primary and systemic muscle derangements, focusing on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on myopathy diagnosis and imaging.
• Emphasis on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques and findings.
• Illustration of typical MR imaging patterns associated with various muscle disease processes.

Main Results:

• Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a key modality for detecting and characterizing a wide spectrum of myopathies.
• Specific patterns of MR imaging abnormalities are indicative of different muscle disease processes.
• The review provides examples to aid in the diagnostic simplification of myopathies.

Conclusions:

• Imaging, particularly MR imaging, plays a vital role in the diagnosis and management of skeletal muscle diseases (myopathies).
• Understanding characteristic MR imaging findings is crucial for accurate diagnosis of diverse myopathies.
• This review aims to enhance diagnostic capabilities by illustrating common myopathy presentations on MR imaging.