Quantifying muscle glycosaminoglycan levels in patients with post-stroke muscle stiffness using T1ρ MRI
Rajiv G Menon, Preeti Raghavan, Ravinder R Regatte, Rajiv G Menon, Preeti Raghavan, Ravinder R Regatte
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to provide imaging evidence of increased glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in patients with post-stroke muscle stiffness; and to determine the effect of hyaluronidase treatment on intramuscular GAG content. In this prospective study, we used 3D-T1ρ (T1rho) magnetic resonance (MR) mapping of the upper arm muscles to quantify GAG content in patients with post-stroke muscle stiffness before and after hyaluronidase injection treatment. For this study, healthy controls (n = 5), and patients with post-stroke muscle stiffness (n = 5) were recruited (March 2017-April 2018). T1ρ MR imaging and Dixon water-fat MR imaging of the affected upper arms were performed before and after off-label treatment with hyaluronidase injections. T1ρ mapping was done using a three-parameter non-linear mono-exponential fit. Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test was used to compare patients' vs controls and pre- vs post-treatment conditions. The T1ρ values in the biceps were significantly higher in patients before treatment (34.04 ± 4.39 ms) compared with controls (26.70 ± 0.54 ms; P = 0.006). Significant improvement was seen in the biceps of patients before (35.48 ± 3.38 ms) and after treatment (29.45 ± 1.23 ms; P = 0.077). Dixon water-fat distribution was not significantly different in the patients compared to the controls (biceps P = 0.063; triceps P = 0.190). These results suggest that T1ρ mapping can be used to quantify GAG content in the muscles of patients with post-stroke muscle stiffness, and that muscle hyaluronan content is increased in stiff muscles compared with controls, providing imaging corroboration for the hyaluronan hypothesis of muscle stiffness.
Conflict of interest statement
New York University has filed a patent on hyaluronidase for muscle stiffness. This study employs an off-label use of an FDA approved enzyme, hyaluronidase. PR is co-founder of Movease, Inc.
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References
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