Split hand muscle echo intensity index as a reliable imaging marker for differential diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Hung Youl Seok, Jinseok Park, Yoo Hwan Kim, Ki Wook Oh, Seung Hyun Kim, Byung Jo Kim

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    25 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of muscle ultrasound in evaluating dissociated small hand muscle atrophy, termed € split hand', and its feasibility in the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods Forty-four patients with ALS, 18 normal subjects and 9 patients with other neuromuscular disorders were included in this study. The hand muscles were divided into three regions, the median-innervated lateral hand muscle group (ML), the ulnar-innervated lateral hand muscle (UL) and the ulnar-innervated medial hand muscle (UM), and the muscle echo intensity (EI) and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) were measured. We calculated the split hand index (SHI) using muscle EI (SHI mEI) and CMAP (SHI CMAP) for comparison among groups. The SHI was derived by dividing muscle EI (or CMAP) measured at the ML and UL by that measured at the UM. Results The SHI mEI was significantly higher in patients with ALS (51.7±28.3) than in normal controls (29.7±9.9) and disease controls with other neuromuscular disorders (36.5±7.3; P<0.001), particularly in upper limb-onset ALS (66.5±34.0; P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the SHI mEI had significantly better diagnostic accuracy than the SHI CMAP. Conclusions The SHI mEI was more sensitive in evaluating dissociated small hand muscle atrophy compared with the SHI CMAP and may be a reliable diagnostic marker for differentiating ALS from other neuromuscular disorders and healthy controls.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)943-948
    Number of pages6
    JournalJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
    Volume89
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018 Sept 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    Funding This article was supported by grants from the Technology Innovation program, which is funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and energy (MI, Korea) (grant no 100499743, ’establishing a medical device development open platform, as a hub for accelerating close firm-hospital communication’), and from the KDa and the Korean health Technology R&D project, Ministry of health, Welfare and Family affairs, Republic of Korea (grant no hI16c2131).

    Funding Information:
    This article was supported by grants from the Technology Innovation Program, which is funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MI, Korea) (grant no 100499743, Establishing a medical device development open platform, as a hub for accelerating close firm-hospital communication), and from the KDA and the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, Republic of Korea (grant no HI16C2131).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Surgery
    • Clinical Neurology
    • Psychiatry and Mental health

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