Clinical Interventions in Aging (Jul 2024)

A Novel MRI-Based Paravertebral Muscle Quality (PVMQ) Score for Evaluating Muscle Quality and Bone Quality: A Comparative Study with the VBQ Score

  • Wang S,
  • Zhang X,
  • Qu B,
  • Yang K,
  • Hu Y,
  • Liu H,
  • Hong J,
  • Niu H,
  • Yang H

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 19
pp. 1203 – 1215

Abstract

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Song Wang,1,* Xiang Zhang,1,* Bo Qu,2,* Kunhai Yang,1 Yongrong Hu,1 Hao Liu,2 Juntao Hong,2 Hao Niu,3 Hongsheng Yang2 1School of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Orthopaedics, First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 3Computer Science of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hao Niu, Computer Science of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Hongsheng Yang, Department of Orthopaedics, First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: This study aims to develop a novel MRI-based paravertebral muscle quality (PVMQ) score for assessing muscle quality and to investigate its correlation with the degree of fat infiltration (DFF) and the vertebral bone quality (VBQ) score of paravertebral muscles. Additionally, the study compares the effectiveness of the PVMQ score and the VBQ score in assessing muscle quality and bone quality.Methods: PVMQ scores were derived from the ratio of paravertebral muscle signal intensity (SI) to L3 cerebrospinal fluid SI on T2-weighted MRI. Image J software assessed paravertebral muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) and DFF. Spearman rank correlation analyses explored associations between PVMQ, VBQ scores, DFF, and T-scores in both genders. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves compared PVMQ and VBQ scores’ effectiveness in distinguishing osteopenia/osteoporosis and high paraspinal muscle DFF.Results: In this study of 144 patients (94 females), PVMQ scores were significantly higher in osteoporosis and osteopenia groups compared to normals, with variations observed between genders (P < 0.05). PVMQ showed stronger positive correlation with VBQ scores and DFF in females than males (0.584 vs 0.445, 0.579 vs 0.528; P < 0.01). ROC analysis favored PVMQ over VBQ for low muscle mass in both genders (AUC = 0.767 vs 0.718, 0.793 vs 0.718). VBQ was better for bone mass in males (0.737/0.865 vs 0.691/0.858), whereas PVMQ excelled for females (0.808/0.764 vs 0.721/0.718).Conclusion: The novel PVMQ score provides a reliable assessment of paravertebral muscle quality and shows a strong correlation with VBQ scores and DFF, particularly in females. It outperforms VBQ scores in evaluating muscle mass and offers valuable insights for assessing bone mass in females. These findings underscore the potential of the PVMQ score as a dual-purpose tool for evaluating both muscle and bone health, informing future research and clinical practice.Keywords: muscle quality, osteoporosis, magnetic resonance imaging, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, vertebral bone quality score, osteosarcopenia

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