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• Clinical Article •
Quantitative MRI study of calf muscle area and fat content in patients with chronic ankle instability
XIE Kaipeng  HUANG Yilong  CHEN Jiaxin  MA Jiyao  HE Bo 

Cite this article as: XIE K P, HUANG Y L, CHEN J X, et al. Quantitative MRI study of calf muscle area and fat content in patients with chronic ankle instability[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2024, 15(10): 129-135. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2024.10.022.


[Abstract] Objective To investigate the changes in cross-sectional area (CSA) and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) of calf muscles in patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) quantitative analysis, and to explore the related influencing factors.Materials and Methods A prospective study was conducted in 50 patients with CAI and 32 healthy volunteers. Clinical data were collected, and MRI scans of the calf muscles were performed. The CSA of each calf muscle was delineated on axial T1-weighted fast spoild gradient echo sequences, while the PDFF of corresponding muscles was obtained through least squares estimation and iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry. Differences in calf muscle CSA and PDFF between CAI patients and healthy controls were analyzed, and their correlations with the number of sprains, duration of interruption in activities, time since last sprain, Foot and Ankle Ability Measure-Activities of Daily Living (FAAM-ADL) score, and FAAM-SPORTS score were examined.Results Compared to the healthy control group, CAI patients had significantly reduced CSA in the medial and lateral heads of the gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis anterior, tibialis posterior, and peroneus longus muscles on the affected side, with a concurrent increase in PDFF (P<0.05, all). The CSA of the extensor digitorum longus and flexor hallucis longus muscles was also reduced, but the differences were not statistically significant (P=0.307, 0.320, respectively); however, their PDFF was significantly increased (P=0.047, 0.029, respectively). Correlation analysis showed that reduced CSA was strongly positively correlated with the number of sprains (r=0.785, P<0.001) and moderately positively correlated with the duration of interruption in activities (r=0.642, P<0.001), while it was strongly negatively correlated with FAAM-ADL (r=-0.754, P<0.001) and FAAM-SPORTS (r=-0.766, P<0.001). Increased PDFF was strongly positively correlated with the number of sprains (r=0.757, P<0.001) and moderately positively correlated with the duration of interruption in activities (r=0.600, P<0.001), while it was strongly negatively correlated with FAAM-SPORTS (r=-0.740, P<0.001) and moderately negatively correlated with FAAM-ADL (r=-0.681, P<0.001).Conclusions MRI can quantitatively assess changes in calf muscle CSA and PDFF in patients with CAI, and these changes are related to the number of sprains, FAAM-ADL, FAAM-SPORTS, and duration of interruption in activities.
[Keywords] chronic ankle instability；skeletal muscle；muscle atrophy；fatty infiltration；magnetic resonance imaging

XIE Kaipeng1   HUANG Yilong1   CHEN Jiaxin1   MA Jiyao2   HE Bo1*  

1 Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China

2 Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650101, China

Corresponding author: HE B, E-mail: kmmu_hb@163.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2024-06-13
Accepted  2024-10-10
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2024.10.022
Cite this article as: XIE K P, HUANG Y L, CHEN J X, et al. Quantitative MRI study of calf muscle area and fat content in patients with chronic ankle instability[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2024, 15(10): 129-135. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2024.10.022.

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