Time-efficient coronal MRI reflects clinical and pathological features of myopathies

Description

Gin Hoong Lee and colleagues validated a faster way to scan muscle: reading the thigh from the front in long slices instead of many cross-sections. Muscle MRI spots swelling and fat replacement in inherited and inflammatory muscle diseases, yet the standard method eats scanner time. Their 2026 study used the new coronal protocol on 102 people, patients with either disease kind plus healthy volunteers, scoring swelling and fat by eye.

Side-by-side checks on the same thighs showed the front view agreeing with the standard view almost perfectly. In inherited disease, more fat on the scan tracked with weaker muscles and older age. In inflammatory disease, more swelling tracked with weakness. Under the microscope, fat scores matched fat seen in tissue samples, and swelling scores matched fiber death, repair, and scarring. The authors pitch the protocol as a high-throughput stand-in covering wide anatomy in less time.

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Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13438539