Magnetic Resonance Assessment of Hypertrophic and Pseudo-Hypertrophic Changes in Lower Leg Muscles of Boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Their Relationship to Functional Measurements

Abstract

Overall, non-contractile content of the lower leg muscles was greater in DMD than controls. Furthermore, there was an age dependent increase in contractile content in the medial gastrocnemius of boys with DMD. The findings of this study suggest that T1 weighted MR images can be used to monitor disease progression and provide a quantitative estimate of contractile and non-contractile content of tissue in children with DMD.