Acute Ultrasonographic Changes in Lower Extremity Muscle Structure after Motor Complete Spinal Cord Injury

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of studies examining ultrasonographic muscle changes in patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: We recruited adults with motor complete acute SCI and performed longitudinal ultrasound measurements. The primary outcome measures were rectus femoris and medial gastrocnemius thickness and echo intensity. RESULTS: This study recruited 20 patients, with a mean time to the first ultrasound measurement of 17.2 ± 2.14 days, with the second measurement done 4 weeks after the first measurement. We found that there was a mean decrease in the rectus femoris muscle thickness of 18.7% (P = 0.027), as well as a mean increase in the rectus femoris echo intensity of 13.0 a.u. (P = 0.009), although no significant differences were found for the medial gastrocnemius. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates decreased thickness and increased echo intensity in the rectus femoris but not in the medial gastrocnemius in patients with motor complete SCI.