अमूर्त

A quantitative assessment of respiratory muscles in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using computed tomography.

Di Wu*, Yujia Cao, Yan Cui, Baoyu Yuan, Yijing Guo

Background: Progressive weakness of respiratory muscles is widespread among patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which leads to respiratory failure, and even death. Evaluation of respiratory muscles is essential for the assessment of severity during disease progression and selection of appropriate interventions. The present study aimed to evaluate the changes in respiratory muscles of patients with ALS using regular chest computed tomography. Methods: A cross-sectional area of respiratory muscles in patients with ALS was retrospectively reviewed. The severity of disease was determined based on the values of the ALS functional rating scale. A healthy control group was selected and well-matched patients with ALS. Results: Crosssectional area of the diaphragm muscle in patients with ALS was lower than that of the healthy control group. The reduced cross-sectional area of respiratory muscles exhibited a correlation with ALS functional rating scale score. Patients with ALS exhibited a significant reduction in the cross-sectional area of respiratory muscles after 6-8 months. Conclusion: Single-slice axial computed tomography is a fast method of quantitatively assessing the cross-sectional area of respiratory muscles, especially diaphragm muscles to determine disease progression.