Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2021 Nov;2021:4828-4831. doi: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630650.
Sonomyography, or dynamic ultrasound imaging of skeletal muscle, has gained significant interest in rehabilitation medicine. Previously, correlations relating sonomyography features of muscle contraction, including muscle thickness, pennation angle, angle between aponeuroses and fascicle length, to muscle force production, strength and joint motion have been established. Additionally, relationships between grayscale image intensity, or echogenicity, with maximum voluntary isometric contraction of muscle have been noted. However, the time relationship between changes in various sonomyography features during volitional motion has yet to be explored, which would highlight if unique information pertaining to muscle contraction and motion can be obtained from this real-time imaging modality. These new insights could inform how we assess muscle function and/or how we use this modality for assistive device control. Thus, our objective was to characterize the time synchronization of changes in five features of rectus femoris contraction extracted from ultrasound images during seated knee extension and flexion. A cross-correlation analysis was performed on data recorded by a handheld ultrasound system as able-bodied subjects completed seated trials of volitional knee extension and flexion. Changes in muscle thickness, angle between aponeuroses, and mean image echogenicity, a change in brightness of the grayscale image, preceded changes in our estimates of pennation angle and fascicle length. The leading nature of these features suggest they could be objective features for early detection of impending joint motion. Finally, multiple sonomyographic features provided unique temporal information associated with this volitional task.Clinical Relevance-This work evaluates the time relationship between five commonly reported features of skeletal muscle architecture during volitional motion, which can be used for targeted clinical assessments and intent detection.
超声肌动描记术，或骨骼肌动态超声成像，在康复医学领域引起了广泛关注。先前，已经建立了与肌肉收缩的超声肌动描记术特征相关的相关性，包括肌肉厚度、羽状角、肌腱和肌束长度之间的角度，以及肌肉力量产生、强度和关节运动。此外，还注意到灰度图像强度（或回声）与肌肉最大随意等长收缩之间的关系。然而，在随意运动过程中各种超声肌动描记术特征的变化之间的时间关系尚未得到探索，这将突出显示是否可以从这种实时成像方式获得与肌肉收缩和运动相关的独特信息。这些新的见解可以告知我们如何评估肌肉功能，或者我们如何将这种方式用于辅助设备控制。因此，我们的目标是描述从超声图像中提取的股直肌收缩的五个特征在坐姿膝关节伸展和弯曲过程中的变化的时间同步性。对健康受试者完成自愿膝关节伸展和弯曲坐姿试验时手持超声系统记录的数据进行了互相关分析。肌肉厚度、肌腱之间的角度和平均图像回声强度（灰度图像亮度的变化）的变化先于我们估计的羽状角和肌束长度的变化。这些特征的主导性质表明它们可能是即将发生关节运动的早期检测的客观特征。最后，多个超声肌动描记术特征提供了与该自愿任务相关的独特时间信息。临床意义-这项工作评估了在自愿运动过程中五种常见的骨骼肌结构特征之间的时间关系，这可用于有针对性的临床评估和意图检测。
