Ultrasound and MRI measured changes in muscle mass gives different estimates but similar conclusions: a Bayesian approach

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 73; no. 8; pp. 1203 - 1205
• Main Authors: Loenneke, Jeremy P., Dankel, Scott J., Bell, Zachary W., Spitz, Robert W., Abe, Takashi, Yasuda, Tomohiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-08-2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 59/57; 631/1647/245/1628; 692/53; Bayesian analysis; Blood flow; Brief Communication; Clinical Nutrition; Eccentricity; Epidemiology; Internal Medicine; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical examination; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Methods; Muscles; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Physiological research; Production methods; Public Health; Thickness measurement; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; United States; Japan
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-019-0431-z

The purpose of this paper was to use a Bayesian approach to compare the relative change in muscle size between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound measured muscle thickness (MTH) following 6 weeks of concentric and eccentric blood flow restricted exercise. Changes at each site were as follows: concentric 50% site (MRI: 10.2%, MTH: 8.7%), concentric 10 cm site (MRI: 12%, MTH: 4.5%), eccentric 50% site (MRI: −1.7%, MTH: 2.6%), and eccentric 10 cm site (MRI: 5.2%, MTH: 0.5%). When testing the difference between estimates using a default prior of 0.707, we provided evidence that the estimate at the 50% site of the concentric arm was similar between ultrasound and MRI [Median % (95% credible interval): −1.1 (−8.2, 5.8)]. However, evidence for other sites suggested differences or a degree of uncertainty. Both methods produce similar conclusions about the presence of growth but the magnitude of that change appears different at most sites.