Clinical utilisation of multimodal quantitative magnetic resonance imaging in investigating muscular damage in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a study on the association between gluteal muscle groups and motor function

Background Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neuromuscular disease characterised by progressive muscular weakness and atrophy. Currently, studies on DMD muscle function mostly focus on individual muscles; little is known regarding the effect of gluteal muscle group damage on motor function. Objective To explore potential imaging biomarkers of hip and pelvic muscle groups for measuring muscular fat replacement and inflammatory oedema in DMD with multimodal quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and methods One hundred fifty-nine DMD boys and 32 healthy male controls were prospectively included. All subjects underwent MRI examination of the hip and pelvic muscles with T1 mapping, T2 mapping and Dixon sequences. Quantitatively measured parameters included longitudinal relaxation time (T1), transverse relaxation time (T2) and fat fraction. Investigations were all based on hip and pelvic muscle groups covering flexors, extensors, adductors and abductors. The North Star Ambulatory Assessment and stair climbing tests were used to measure motor function in DMD. Results T1 of the extensors ( r = 0.720, P < 0.01), flexors ( r = 0.558, P < 0.01) and abductors ( r = 0.697, P < 0.001) were positively correlated with the North Star Ambulatory Assessment score. In contrast, T2 of the adductors ( r = -0.711, P < 0.01) and fat fraction of the extensors ( r = -0.753, P < 0.01) were negatively correlated with the North Star Ambulatory Assessment score. Among them, T1 of the abductors ( b = 0.013, t = 2.052, P = 0.042), T2 of the adductors ( b = -0.234, t = -2.554, P = 0.012) and fat fraction of the extensors ( b = -0.637, t = − 4.096, P < 0.001) significantly affected the North Star Ambulatory Assessment score. Moreover, T1 of the abductors was highly predictive for identifying motor dysfunction in DMD, with an area under the curve of 0.925. Conclusion Magnetic resonance biomarkers of hip and pelvic muscle groups (particularly T1 values of the abductor muscles) have the potential to be used as independent risk factors for motor dysfunction in DMD.