Quantification of Fat Infiltration in Thigh and Calf Muscles in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy: Comparison of Three MRI Methods

The development of non-invasive measures of the degree and progression of muscle involvement is essential for clinical trials in oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) patients. In this study, three quantitative MRI measures of muscular fat infiltration are compared with regard to applicability for longitudinal studies. A very high linear correlation is observed between fat infiltration according to the 2-point Dixon method and quantitative T2 values (R2 = 0.95). Fat infiltration according to SSFP histogram analysis exhibit a lower linear correlation with T2 values (R2 = 0.88). Dixon or T2 mapping techniques may be promising quantitative tools to study the pattern and involvement of fat infiltration longitudinally