Upper arm and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

We analyzed quantitative maps of and relaxation times and muscle fat fraction measurements in magnetic resonance imaging of the upper arm skeletal muscles and heart in ambulatory boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and age-range-matched healthy volunteer boys. The cardiac-optimized sequences detected fatty infiltration and edema in the upper arm skeletal muscles but not the myocardium in these Duchenne muscular dystrophy boys who had normal ejection fraction. Imaging the heart and skeletal muscle using the same magnetic resonance imaging methods during a single scan may be useful in assessing relative disease status and therapeutic response in clinical trials of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.