Abstract
Background Ultrasound elastography (EUS) measures the speed of shear waves travelling through the tissue. Elastic tissue absorbs a higher extent of the shear forces and therefore a low velocity (m/s) equals elastic/soft tissue and high velocity stiff/hard tissue. The aim of this study was to examine the intrarater reliability in healthy subjects. Methods We used a Virtual Touch Quantification program, which is independent of external pressure in two resting muscles; biceps brachii muscle (BB) and abductor digiti minimi muscle (ADM). In BB we divided the area over the muscle in three equal horizontal regions which were then subdivided vertically into three sub-areas. We performed three measurements in each subarea. In ADM we performed a total of nine measurements. The same examiner performed the examination twice in all the participants. Results We have so far included eight healthy volunteers. We found a good intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) in BB for all three regions ICC (95%CI): upper 0.70 (−1.2–0.95), middle 0.88 (0.34–0.97), lower 0.85 (0.28–0.97) and an excellent reproducibility in ADM: ICC (95%CI): 0.97 (0.86–0.99). Conclusions EUS of muscles has good intrarater reproducibility. This method may provide information about the viscoelastic properties of muscles and may have potential in the evaluation of muscles in neuromuscular disorders.
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