Quantitative Evaluation of Gastrocnemius Medialis Stiffness During Passive Stretching Using Shear Wave Elastography in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Prospective Preliminary Study
Lu Yin, Lijuan Du, Yuanzi Li, Yang Xiao, Shiquan Zhang, Huizi Ma, Wen He
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To prospectively investigate the feasibility of shear wave elastography (SWE) as a new quantitative and objective method for evaluating the stiffness of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle during passive stretching in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: ) were compared between the markedly symptomatic and mildly symptomatic sides of patients with PD, and healthy controls. Additionally, the correlation between the GM slack angle and the severity of rigidity, and the observer reproducibility of SWE in determining the GM slack angle were evaluated. RESULTS: < 0.001). The intraclass correlation coefficients for observer reproducibility of SWE ranged from 0.880 to 0.951. CONCLUSION: The slack angle determined by SWE may be a useful quantitative and reproducible method for evaluating muscle stiffness in patients with PD.