AMRA’s recent research, performed in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo and the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP) in Japan, will be presented at the 2022 MDA Clinical & Scientific Conference scheduled for March 13 – 16. The researchers will present the results of their repeatability study that evaluates the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyze the volume and fat content of whole muscles in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM). This research is particularly relevant for companies developing therapeutics for Neuromuscular Diseases (NMD), as it supports that MRI muscle assessment measurements are repeatable, helping to address the variability associated with functional assessments.
The MDA conference will highlight the latest preclinical research, clinical trials, and clinical management in NMDs and the impact on the NMD community. Volumetric MRI-based analysis of muscle volume and muscle fat has emerged as a promising technique for monitoring disease progression and evaluating treatment response in humans. Previously, AMRA optimized its MRI protocol and image analysis technology for volumetrically analyzing muscle volume and muscle fat in various NMD patient populations. AMRA, Daiichi Sankyo, and the NCNP demonstrated how well that approach generalizes to sIBM in this repeatability study.
The collaborative research demonstrates the within-scanner repeatability of MRI-based muscle composition analysis in 10 sIBM patients. Each individual underwent two MRI examinations in a test-retest setup using a 3T MRI scanner. Per MRI, both legs were scanned fully and segmented into five anatomic regions (quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors, gastrocnemius medialis, and tibialis anterior), which were then used to measure the lean muscle volume, muscle fat fraction, and muscle fat infiltration. The measurements showed high repeatability, although the precision varied across anatomical regions.
Over the course of the conference, clinicians, radiologists, and NMD researchers can learn about AMRA’s approach by attending the poster presentation number 165 titled: Volumetric Muscle Composition Analysis of Sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis Patients using Fat-Water Separated MRI: A Repeatability Study.