Texture analysis of muscle in lower extremities MRI for detection of sarcopenia

• Main Author: Lew, Si Kang
• Other Authors: Poh Chueh Loo
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61113
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Sarcopenia is an age dependent syndrome that is characterized by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, function and performance in conjunction with increased fat mass, increasing the risk of adverse outcomes such as physical disability, poor quality of life and higher mortality rate. Some of the causes of sarcopenia include lack of physical activity, neuromuscular loss, poor nutrition, hormonal changes, inflammation, chronic diseases and high muscular fat content. Previously it was presumed that age related weight loss, together with muscle mass loss, was largely responsible for muscle frailty in the elderly resulting in sarcopenia. However, recent studies have shown that changes in muscle composition are also critical, as higher amounts of fat infiltration in muscle lowers muscle quality and work performance. In this study we aim to utilize textural parameters for analysis of MRI images of the lower extremities (mid-thigh to calf region), to see if they can be used as indicators to differentiate between healthy and frail subjects as well as determining their correlation to fat infiltrations in muscle. Results showed that entropy, grey level non-uniformity and kurtosis may be used as an indicator to distinguish between healthy and frail subject groups and they exhibit a clear relationship with fat infiltrates density in muscle. These results could be useful for the early detection of sarcopenia so that adverse outcomes can be prevented and controlled.