PURPOSE The aim of this study was to describe the differences between abdominal wall muscles echo intensity (EI) in PD patients and healthy controls. METHODS Forty-three consecutive PD patients (25 males and 18 females, age 73.7 ± 7.1, and 42 controls without neurological diseases (22 males, 20 females, age 69.8 ± 6.0) participated in this cross-sectional study. The clinical assessment included the following: IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), Hoehn Yahr score, plumb line distance from the spinous process of C7, kyphosis apex, and spinous process of L3 and S1. A real-time ultrasound B-scanner (system MyLab40 by Esaote, Genoa, Italy) was used to obtain muscle images of the right and left biceps brachii (BB), external (EO), and internal oblique (IO) and rectus abdomen (RA). Heckmatt scale and measure of EI through ImageJ software were used to assess muscle quality. RESULTS When considering the Heckmatt score, the RA and BB did not significantly differ between PD and control patients, while there was a significant difference for right (p < 0.01) and left (p = 0.02) IO muscles. There was no difference among EI values of the RA, IO, and BB between PD and control patients. CONCLUSIONS Echo intensity of abdominal wall muscles (rectus abdominis, internal oblique) and biceps brachii did not differ between Parkinsonian patients and healthy subjects. We did not found ultrasound useful in disease evolution assessment or in early diagnosis of postural disorders.

中文翻译：

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帕金森氏病和健康对照者的腹壁肌肉回声强度：横断面研究。

目的本研究的目的是描述PD患者与健康对照者的腹壁肌肉回声强度（EI）之间的差异。方法这项横断面研究共纳入43例连续的PD患者（男25例，女18例，年龄73.7±7.1岁）和42例无神经系统疾病的对照组（男22例，女20例，年龄69.8±6.0）。以下内容：IPAQ（国际体育活动问卷），Hoehn Yahr评分，距C7棘突，后凸顶点和L3和S1棘突的垂线距离。实时B超扫描仪（热那亚Esaote的MyLab40系统） （意大利）用于获取右肱二头肌和左肱二头肌（BB），外部（EO），内部斜肌（IO）和腹直肌（RA）的肌肉图像。使用Heckmatt量表和通过ImageJ软件测量的EI来评估肌肉质量。结果在考虑Heckmatt评分时，PD和对照患者之间的RA和BB并无显着差异，而右（p <0.01）和左（p = 0.02）IO肌肉有显着差异。在PD和对照患者之间，RA，IO和BB的EI值之间没有差异。结论帕金森病患者和健康受试者的腹壁肌肉（腹直肌，内斜肌）和肱二头肌的回声强度没有差异。我们没有发现超声波可用于疾病发展评估或姿势异常的早期诊断。而右（p <0.01）和左（p = 0.02）IO肌肉有显着差异。在PD和对照患者之间，RA，IO和BB的EI值之间没有差异。结论帕金森病患者和健康受试者的腹壁肌肉（腹直肌，内斜肌）和肱二头肌的回声强度没有差异。我们没有发现超声波可用于疾病发展评估或姿势异常的早期诊断。而右（p <0.01）和左（p = 0.02）IO肌肉有显着差异。在PD和对照患者之间，RA，IO和BB的EI值之间没有差异。结论帕金森病患者和健康受试者的腹壁肌肉（腹直肌，内斜肌）和肱二头肌的回声强度没有差异。我们没有发现超声波可用于疾病发展评估或姿势异常的早期诊断。