CT in neuromuscular disorders: a comparison of CT and histology.
The value of CT-examination of the muscles compared to histology was studied in a retrospective analysis of 30 patients with clinical suspicion of neuromuscular disorder. In the evaluation of the CT-results descriptive criteria were used. The histologic diagnosis came from needle-biopsies taken from the quadriceps muscle. Considering the whole group of neuromuscular disorders, CT has an overall accuracy of 84.8%, a positive predictive value of 95.5% and a negative predictive value of 63.6%. This makes the use of CT as a diagnostic tool in neuromuscular disorders a reliable examination technique. In patients with a polymyositis there is even a 100% correlation between CT findings and biopsy results. Discrepancy between the biopsy results of the quadriceps muscle and the CT findings is remarkable: the number of abnormal histological findings is twice the number of abnormal CT findings. Using the more proximal gluteal region as a biopsy site would have decreased this discrepancy and would therefore have given a better correlation between CT and histology. The choice of protocol in determining the levels to be scanned is of great importance in achieving good reproducability in follow-up CT examinations.
vd Vliet
A M
AM
Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Thijssen
H O
HO
Joosten
E
E
Merx
J L
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D009220:Myositis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed