Barbara H. Janssen1,
Sigrid Pillen2, Nicoline B.M. Voet3, Arend Heerschap1,
Baziel G. van Engelen2, Nens van Alfen2
1Radiology,
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland,
Netherlands; 2Neurology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical
Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands; 3rehabilitation,
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands
With emerging molecular therapies for neuromuscular disorders the need for non-invasive biomarkers becomes more pressing. MRI and ultrasound (US) can be performed non-invasively, without causing any harm to the patient. To investigate and compare the abilities of quantitative MRI and US in describing muscle pathology we performed both techniques in five FSHD patients. We found high and significant correlations between both techniques. Both imaging techniques are very useful in the discrimination of true muscle pathology from other health issues. When a neuromuscular disorder is non-uniformly distributed over the muscles' length we recommend multi-slice investigations.