In Vivo Viscoelastic Response (VisR) Ultrasound for Characterizing Mechanical Anisotropy in Lower-Limb Skeletal Muscles of Boys with and without Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Our group has previously found that in silico, mechanical anisotropy may be interrogated by exciting transversely isotropic materials with geometrically asymmetric acoustic radiation force excitations and then monitoring the associated induced displacements in the region of excitation. We now translate acoustic radiation force-based anisotropy assessment to human muscle in vivo and investigate its clinical relevance to monitoring muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Clinical anisotropy assessments were performed using Viscoelastic Response ultrasound, with a degree of anisotropy reflected by the ratios of Viscoelastic Response relative elasticity (RE) or relative viscosity (RV) measured with the asymmetric radiation force oriented parallel versus perpendicular to muscle fiber alignment. In vivo results from rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscles of boys aged ～7.9–10.4 y indicate that RE and RV anisotropy ratios in rectus femoris muscles of boys with DMD were significantly higher than those of healthy control boys (RE: DMD?=?1.51 ± 0.87, control?=?0.99 ± 0.69, p?=?0.04, Wilcoxon rank sum test; RV: DMD?=?1.04 ± 0.71, control?=?0.74 ± 0.22, p?=?0.02). In the gastrocnemius muscle, only the RV anisotropy ratio was significantly higher in dystrophic than control patients (DMD?=?1.23 ± 0.35, control?=?0.88 ± 0.31, p?=?0.04). In the dystrophic rectus femoris muscle, the RE anisotropy ratio was inversely correlated (slope?=?–0.03/lbf, r?=?–0.43, p?=?0.07, Pearson correlation) with quantitative muscle testing functional output measures but was not correlated with quantitative muscle testing in the dystrophic gastrocnemius. These results suggest that Viscoelastic Response RE and RV measures reflect differences in mechanical anisotropy associated with functional impairment with dystrophic degeneration that are relevant to monitoring DMD clinically.