Department of Community Healthcare and Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan.
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Chukyo University, Aichi, Japan.
Ann Med. 2023 Dec;55(1):190-197. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2022.2157871.
Technological advances of hand-held ultrasound devices and educational programmes for their use, such as point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) training, have contributed to the increasing application of these devices in clinical practice. With the greater impact of frailty and sarcopenia in aging societies, attention is being focused on the use of ultrasound for skeletal muscle assessment. In this narrative review, we discuss how ultrasound can be applied to skeletal muscle assessment, especially that of the quadriceps muscle, in clinical practice. Muscle thickness by ultrasound has been shown to have good reliability and validity for the evaluation of muscle size, and echo intensity has been used to evaluate muscle quality. Muscle ultrasound has not only been useful to diagnose sarcopenia in various settings, but has also been validated to predict health-related outcomes such as death and functional disability. Recommended methods for muscle ultrasound was published recently, and the results of future studies are expected to be comparable. Although several challenging issues with muscle ultrasound remain, if it could be incorporated into educational programmes such as POCUS training, more clinicians may be able to use ultrasound for skeletal muscle assessment in the future.KEY MESSAGESThe evolution of hand-held ultrasound devices enables physicians to perform ultrasound at the bedside as part of regular medical examinations.Muscle ultrasound is considered an effective tool for evaluating muscle size and quality, and has been studied in various settings.More clinicians may be able to evaluate skeletal muscle assessment with the development of educational programmes on muscle ultrasound in the future.
手持式超声设备的技术进步和使用相关的教育计划，如即时超声检查（POCUS）培训，促进了这些设备在临床实践中的广泛应用。随着衰弱和肌少症在老龄化社会中的影响越来越大，人们开始关注超声在骨骼肌评估中的应用。在这篇叙述性综述中，我们讨论了超声在临床实践中如何应用于骨骼肌评估，特别是股四头肌的评估。超声测量的肌肉厚度在评估肌肉大小方面具有良好的可靠性和有效性，而回声强度则用于评估肌肉质量。肌肉超声不仅有助于在各种情况下诊断肌少症，而且还经过验证可预测与健康相关的结局，如死亡和功能障碍。最近发布了肌肉超声的推荐方法，预计未来的研究结果将具有可比性。尽管肌肉超声仍存在一些具有挑战性的问题，但如果它可以整合到 POCUS 培训等教育计划中，未来可能会有更多的临床医生能够使用超声进行骨骼肌评估。
关键信息
手持式超声设备的发展使医生能够在床边进行超声检查，作为常规医疗检查的一部分。
肌肉超声被认为是评估肌肉大小和质量的有效工具，已在各种情况下进行了研究。
随着肌肉超声教育计划的发展，未来可能会有更多的临床医生能够进行骨骼肌评估。
