Evaluation of the Lower Trapezius Muscle Using Ultrasound Panoramic View (a Novel Approach): An Intra- and Inter-Rater Reliability Study.

Samuel Fernández-Carnero,Alejandro Garrido-Marín,Alejandro Ferragut-Garcías,Rubén Fernández-Matías,Alexander Achalandabaso-Ochoa,Daniel Pecos-Martín,Tomás Gallego-Izquierdo

doi:10.3390/ijerph17197123

Abstract

The panoramic view ultrasound remains uncommon in clinical practice, probably because of its difficulty, high-cost, and lack of research. Morphological changes in muscles have been demonstrated to be related to symptomatology and provide data of interest for clinical assessment. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the measurement reliability of the length of the lower trapezius muscle with the panoramic view ultrasound using a novel tool, SIG_VIP®. Twenty healthy volunteers were measured by two expert sonographers using the SIG_VIP® tool with a novel approach. Statistical analyses were performed with the R software. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC), and Bland-Altman plots were calculated. All the results indicated good intra-rater reliability (ICC3,1, 0.92 to 0.96; SEM, 0.59 to 0.85; MDC, 1.64 to 2.35) and inter-rater reliability (ICC3,2, 0.84 to 0.89; SEM, 1.22 to 1.53; MDC, 3.39 to 4.25). The novel system used with the described methodology can reliably measure the length of the inferior fibers of the trapezius muscle. Further research must be conducted to evaluate the reliability in patients and how pathology is related to the length of the lower trapezius muscle.

Highlights

Ultrasound morphological evaluations were first used for the assessment of muscles as an alternative form of medical diagnosis more than five decades ago [1]
An intra- and inter-rater reliability cross-sectional study was conducted according to the Guidelines for Reporting Reliability and Agreement Studies (GRRAS) [16]
The sample was composed of 20 volunteers (11 female) with a mean age of 37.25 (SD, 12.90; range, 20–56) years

Summary

Introduction

Ultrasound morphological evaluations were first used for the assessment of muscles as an alternative form of medical diagnosis more than five decades ago [1]. Research began with the aim of obtaining more accurate anthropometric measurements of analyzed muscles [2,3]. These anthropometric measures were correlated with pain and dysfunction in several locations [4,5]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered the gold standard in anthropometric measurements. It is three times more expensive than ultrasound [6] and time consuming. Ultrasound is more economical, flexible, and has been validated compared to MRI for transversal evaluations demonstrating high correlation versus “gold standard” [7,8,9]

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Methods

Discussion

Conclusion