Quantification of muscle metabolites using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) for incomplete spinal cord injury patients: Preliminary study

• Published in: Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences
• Main Author: Hidayah Rusli N.S.; Zakaria F.; Abdul Razak H.R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2021
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85104193009&partnerID=40&md5=9694de318680fc5b560bb5294691aa29

Introduction: This preliminary study aimed to non-invasively evaluate choline (CHO), creatine (Cr) and intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) metabolites in skeletal muscles at pre- and post-functional electrical stimulation (FES) exercise among incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) of American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (ASIA-AIS) D patients using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy or 1H-MRS. Methods: These metabolites were measured from the vastus lateralis and semitendinosus muscles of three incomplete SCI ASIA-AIS D patients who completed the FES exercise and later underwent 3 Tesla (T) MRI (repetition time/echo time; TR/TE of 3500ms/100ms, field-of-view; FOV of 20cm, slice thickness of 6mm) and 1H-MRS (TR/TE of 2000ms/31ms, voxel size of 20mm x 20mm x 35mm). Results: Out of those selected metabolites, only CHO value of vastus lateralis showed a statistically significant difference between pre- and post FES exercise 1H-MRS scanning (p = 0.01). Conclusion: Therefore, this preliminary finding has postulated that the quantification of muscle metabolites using 1H-MRS imaging could be used as a potential indicator in evaluating the muscle strength for incomplete SCI ASIA-AIS D patients after the completion of FES cycling exercise. © 2021 UPM Press. All rights reserved.