Reliability of panoramic ultrasound imaging to simultaneously examine muscle size and quality of the medial gastrocnemius.

INTRODUCTION: In this study we examined the test-retest reliability of panoramic brightness-mode ultrasound (US) imaging to simultaneously measure both muscle size and quality from a single US image. METHODS: Sixteen healthy, recreationally active men (age = 20.9 ± 2.5 years) volunteered for this investigation. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and the standard error of measurement as a percentage of the mean (SEM%). Muscle size [cross-sectional area (CSA)], and muscle quality [echo intensity (EI)] of the medial gastrocnemius were examined on 2 separate days. RESULTS: These measures demonstrated acceptable reliability between assessment days with ICCs and SEM% of 0.914 and 0.720 and 5.830 and 3.680 for CSA and EI, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that panoramic US imaging may be a reliable technique for simultaneous assessment of both muscle size and quality from a single US scan.

Test-retest reliability and the minimal detectable change for achilles tendon length: a panoramic ultrasound assessment.

The purpose of the present study was to examine test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC) values for Achilles tendon (AT) length determined using panoramic ultrasound (US) imaging. Seventeen men (age = 21.0 ± 2.3 y) visited the laboratory on two separate days, where AT length was examined along the mid-longitudinal axis of the right lower leg with a portable B-mode panoramic US device. These measures were found to have acceptable reliability with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM) values of 0.954 and 4.43 mm (SEM% of the mean = 2.37%), respectively. In addition, the MDC for the panoramic US assessment of AT length was 12.27 mm (MDC% of the mean = 6.57%). These findings suggest that panoramic US imaging is a reliable technique for detection of clinically relevant changes in AT length and may therefore be a practical and time-efficient clinical tool for future studies examining AT length in vivo.