Leg Muscle Volume, Intramuscular Fat and Force Generation: Insights From a Computer-Vision Model and Fat-Water MRI.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maintaining skeletal muscle health (i.e., muscle size and quality) is crucial for preserving mobility. Decreases in lower limb muscle volume and increased intramuscular fat (IMF) are common findings in people with impaired mobility. We developed an automated method to extract markers of leg muscle health, muscle volume and IMF, from MRI. We then explored their associations with age, body mass index (BMI), sex and voluntary force generation.

Methods

We trained (n = 34) and tested (n = 16) a convolutional neural network (CNN) to segment five muscle groups in both legs from fat-water MRI to explore muscle volume and IMF. In 95 participants (70 females, 25 males, mean age [standard deviation] = 34.2 (11.2) years, age range = 18-60 years), we explored associations betw

SUBMITTER: Smith AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11839747 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature