Applying SENIAM Guidelines to Shear Wave Elastography: A Novel Approach to Standardizing Transducer Placement for Muscle Imaging.

INTRODUCTION

Ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) is used to assess musculoskeletal tissue properties, but methodological inconsistencies, particularly in probe placement, have limited the generalizability of findings. Therefore, this technical note investigated the use of standardized surface muscle electromyography sensor placement guidelines for ultrasound transducer placement during SWE on lower-limb muscle tissue.

METHODS

A total of 31 individuals with unilateral symptoms of knee osteoarthritis were recruited from the community. Quadriceps muscle SWE measures were acquired and analyzed across sites with coefficients of variance and image quality maps.

RESULTS

All measured muscles demonstrated consistently low intra-trial variability (mean coefficient of variance = 6.6%) and high image quality.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that standardization of transducer placement is feasible for SWE, but further investigations across varying muscle groups, clinical populations and research applications are required.