Acute muscle loss assessed using panoramic ultrasound in critically ill adults: a prospective observational study

Panoramic ultrasound is one of the recently introduced ultrasound evaluation techniques. We herein examined the relationship between the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris muscle on panoramic ultrasound and its volume based on the gold standard computed tomography (CT) evaluation.

This was a single-center prospective observational study. A panoramic ultrasound assessment of the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris muscle and a simple CT evaluation of its volume were performed on days 1 and 7 of hospitalization. Physical functions were assessed at discharge.

Twenty patients were examined. The rate of change in the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris muscle on panoramic ultrasound correlated with that in its volume on CT (correlation coefficient 0.59, p = 0.0061). In addition, a correlation was observed between the absolute value for the rectus femoris muscle cross-sectional area on panoramic ultrasound and physical functions at discharge. Rectus femoris muscle distances did not correlate with either.

In the acute phase of critical illness, the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris muscle on panoramic images correlated with its volume on CT and, thus, it is a valid method for assessing muscle mass.