Quantitative ultrasound image analysis of the supraspinatus muscle

Objective. To develop and validate a method, based on quantitative ultrasound image analysis, to objectively analyse and characterize the ultrasound images of m. supraspinatus. Design. Quantitative ultrasonography was performed on the supraspinatus muscle of 14 healthy subjects. Methods. A computerized analysis using first-order grey-scale statistics to evaluate the muscle tissue composition was developed and validated. Results. Data from one scanning site were not representative for the whole muscle due to muscle inhomogenity. Using first-order grey-scale statistics the scanning direction was of no importance. By using a scanning session consisting of three different scanning sites along the muscle in two directions, longitudinally and transversely, to characterize the tissue composition of the muscle, a high day-to-day reproducibility was obtained. Conclusion. The described scanning session is a relatively sensitive and reproducible method for studying the muscle tissue composition. Relevance Quantitative ultrasonography seems to be a potential clinical and occupational examination method to detect tissue composition of myalgic muscles compared to healthy muscles.