Explore strategies for muscle imaging texture analysis

Working Group Leader – Jacques de Certaines

Muscle architecture disorganization is a frequent end-stage feature of chronic NMD and particularly of muscular dystrophy. These structural changes translate into abnormal dispersion of the NMR signal distribution within muscles. The NMR signal heterogeneities result in increased standard deviation of muscle signal intensities. This very simple index has been shown to identify dystrophic muscle in animal models and to normalize when dystrophin expression is restored. However it does not take into account possible particular spatial distribution of muscle signal intensities. Texture analysis algorithms may reveal topographical patterns and improve diseased muscle characterization.

Specific Objectives:

  • Hold Working Group meetings of experts to define strategies of muscle texture analysis and to define the best NMR contrast for these techniques to be applied.
  • Compare results obtained with different approaches and determine their merits for moitoring disease evolution.
  • Publish joint reports and manuscripts on the relative performances of all techniques tested.

This working group consists of…

Noura Azzabou Jean-Louis Coatrieux
Jacques de Certaines Dorota Duda
Luis Escudero Wlodzimierz Klonowski
Marek Kretowski Dick Lerski
Antonio Pinheiro Maria Piotrkiewicz
A. Shukelovich E. Snezhko
Guanyu Yang