The reliability of the measurement of muscle volume using magnetic resonance imaging in typically developing infants by two raters

To assess intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the manual segmentation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for the in vivo measurement of infant muscle volume of the knee extensor and flexor muscles by two raters. Muscles of the knee extensor and flexor muscle of ten typically developing infants (86 days ± 7 days) were scanned with MRI (Proton density sequence). Scans were then segmented using Slicer software, and volumes rendered by two raters. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were assessed using intra-class correlation (ICC), with mean difference (MD), standard error of the mean (SEM), and minimal detectable change (MDC) for each muscle calculated. ICCs for Intra-rater reliability of the segmentation process for the muscle volume of the muscles of the knee extensors and flexor muscles were 0.901–0.972, and 0.776–0.945 respectively, with inter-rater reliabilities between 0.914–0.954 and 0.848–0.978, for the knee extensor and flexors muscles respectively. For intra-rater reliability, MD ≤ − 0.47 cm(3), MDCs for were < 1.09 cm(3) and for inter-rater MD ≤ − 1.40 cm(3), MDCs for were < 1.63 cm(3) for all muscles. MRI segmentation for muscle volumes showed good to excellent reliability, though given the small volumes of the muscles themselves, variations between raters are amplified. Care should be taken in the reporting and interpretation of infant muscle volume.