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Cervical muscle area measurements in whiplash patients: Acute, 3, and 6 months of follow‐up
Author(s) -
Ulbrich Erika J.,
Aeberhard Ramon,
Wetli Sylvia,
Busato Andre,
Boesch Chris,
Zimmermann Heinz,
Hodler Juerg,
Anderson Suzanne E.,
Sturzenegger Matthias
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.23769
Subject(s) - medicine , whiplash , sternocleidomastoid muscle , neck pain , cervical spine , neck muscles , whiplash injury , cervical vertebrae , dorsum , physical therapy , surgery , anatomy , poison control , emergency medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
Purpose: To investigate the role of the cervical spine muscles in whiplash injury. We hypothesized that (i) cervical muscle hypotrophy would be evident after a 6‐month follow‐up and, (ii) cervical muscle hypotrophy would correlate with symptom persistence probably related to pain or inactivity. Materials and Methods: Ninety symptomatic patients (48 females) were recruited from our emergency department and examined within 48 h, and at 3, and 6 months after a motor vehicle accident. MRI cross‐sectional muscle area (CSA) measurements were performed bilaterally of the cervical extensor and sternocleidomastoid muscles using transverse STIR (Short Tau inversion Recovery) sequences at the C2 (deep and total dorsal cervical extensor muscles), C4 (sternocleidomastoid muscles) and C5 (deep and total dorsal cervical extensor muscles) levels. Two blinded raters independently performed the measurements at each time point. First, CSA changes over time were analyzed and, second, CSAs were correlated with clinical outcomes (EuroQuol, Whiplash Disability Score, neck pain intensity [VAS], cervical spine mobility). Results: There was a high agreement of CSA measurements between the two raters. Women consistently had smaller CSAs than men. There were no significant changes of CSAs over time at any of the three levels. There were no consistent significant correlations of CSA values with the clinical scores at all time points except with the body mass index. Conclusion: Our results do not support a major role of cervical muscle volume in the genesis of symptoms after whiplash injury. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012; 36:1413–1420. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.