Abstract
We evaluated the correlation of electrical impedance myography (EIM) measurements of knee muscles composition using Skulpt ChiselTM with MRI data retrieved from muscles segmentation. A total of 140 patients (71 females, 52 ± 21 years) underwent knee MRI, EIM with Skulpt®, and clinical evaluation (SARC-F questionnaire). MRIs were reviewed to assess the cross-sectional area (CSA) and skeletal muscle index (SMI = CSA/height2) of vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, biceps, semimembranosus, and sartorius. We tested the correlations of EIM-derived parameters [body fat-percentage (BF%) and muscle quality] with total CSA, CSA of each muscle, SMI, and SARC-F scores (0−10) using Pearson correlation coefficient. We found medium negative correlation of BF% with SMI (r = −0.430, p < 0.001) and total CSA (r = −0.445, p < 0.001), particularly with biceps (r = −0.479, p < 0.001), sartorius (r = −0.440, p < 0.001), and semimembranosus (r = −0.357, p < 0.001). EIM-derived muscle quality showed small-to-medium positive correlation with MRI measurements, ranging from r = 0.234 of biceps (p = 0.006) to r = 0.302 of total CSA (p < 0.001), except for vastus lateralis (r = 0.014, p = 0.873). SARC-F scores showed small correlations with EIM and MRI data, ranging from r = −0.132 (p = 0.121) with EIM muscle quality to r = −0.288 (p = 0.001) with CSA of vastus medialis. Hence, we observed small-to-medium correlations of muscle parameters derived from Skulpt ChiselTM with SARC-F scores and MRI parameters. We recommend using Skulpt ChiselTM with caution for assessing knee skeletal muscles composition.