Tama Oral Rehabilitation Clinic, The Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Division of Rehabilitation for Speech and Swallowing Disorders, The Nippon Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
J Oral Rehabil. 2024 Nov;51(11):2405-2414. doi: 10.1111/joor.13844. Epub 2024 Aug 16.
Assessing the internal condition of swallowing-related muscles and muscle strength and size is important because their deterioration may lead to dysphagia. However, there are few reports on stiffness of swallowing-related muscles measured using shear-wave elastography (SWE) and their qualitative characteristics.
We measured stiffness of swallowing-related muscles using SWE to investigate the relationship between muscle stiffness and body composition as well as other relevant variables in healthy adults.
Thirty healthy adults were included in this cross-sectional study. We evaluated stiffness of the genioglossus muscle (GGM) and geniohyoid muscle (GHM) using SWE. Skeletal muscle mass index, body mass index (BMI), handgrip strength, tongue pressure, and cross-sectional areas of the muscles were measured, and we determined their relationship with muscle stiffness.
For muscle stiffness, the mean value for the middle GGM was 7.08 ± 1.92 kPa, that for the posterior GGM was 9.31 ± 2.68 kPa, and that for the GHM was 8.84 ± 2.15 kPa. In multiple regression analysis, with stiffness of the posterior GGM as the dependent variable, BMI (β = -.473, p = .039) was a significant negative explanatory variable. However, with the GHM stiffness as the dependent variable, BMI (β = .419, p = .033) was a significant positive explanatory variable.
Stiffness of the posterior GGM was positively correlated with BMI and that of the GHM was negatively correlated with BMI. Stiffness, as measured using SWE, has the potential to capture the intramuscular characteristics of swallowing-related muscles, particularly the posterior GGM.
评估与吞咽相关的肌肉的内部状况以及肌肉力量和大小很重要，因为它们的恶化可能导致吞咽困难。然而，使用剪切波弹性成像（SWE）测量与吞咽相关的肌肉僵硬及其定性特征的报道很少。
我们使用 SWE 测量与吞咽相关的肌肉的僵硬程度，以研究健康成年人中肌肉僵硬与身体成分以及其他相关变量之间的关系。
本横断面研究纳入了 30 名健康成年人。我们使用 SWE 评估了颏舌肌（GGM）和颏舌骨肌（GHM）的僵硬程度。测量了骨骼肌质量指数、体重指数（BMI）、握力、舌压和肌肉的横截面积，并确定了它们与肌肉僵硬之间的关系。
对于肌肉僵硬，中间 GGM 的平均值为 7.08 ± 1.92 kPa，后 GGM 的平均值为 9.31 ± 2.68 kPa，GHM 的平均值为 8.84 ± 2.15 kPa。在多元回归分析中，以后 GGM 的僵硬程度为因变量，BMI（β=-.473，p=0.039）是一个显著的负解释变量。然而，以 GHM 的僵硬程度为因变量时，BMI（β=0.419，p=0.033）是一个显著的正解释变量。
后 GGM 的僵硬程度与 BMI 呈正相关，而 GHM 的僵硬程度与 BMI 呈负相关。使用 SWE 测量的僵硬程度有可能捕捉到与吞咽相关的肌肉的肌肉内特征，特别是后 GGM。
