Human leg neuromuscular diseases: P-31 MR spectroscopy

Patients with a range of neuromuscular leg diseases, such as Duchenne dystrophy, were imaged using a special form of magnetic resonance (MR) scanning that records energy metabolism in human muscle tissue. MR spectroscopy (MRS) records the release of phosphocreatinine, which is phosphorous in conjunction with creatinine as a byproduct of muscular activity, to inorganic phosphate. MRS showed that during exercise, calf muscles of patients with severely decreased oxygen supply in the leg muscles, resulting in limping, show a greater than normal depletion of phosphocreatinine, a larger fall in pH, and a slower recovery time than normal persons. The range of disease in the study affect muscle tissue uniformly and alter phosphate metabolite ratios in a manner that is efficient in characterizing a specific disease. Muscle strength in the diseases that were studied also reflects the extent of fat infiltration of the muscle, as seen in the leg images.