title: Influence of exercise loading on magnetic resonance image texture of thigh soft tissues.
abstract: Adaptation to exercise training can affect bone marrow adiposity; muscle-fat distribution; and muscle volume, strength and architecture. The objective of this study was to identify exercise-load-associated differences in magnetic resonance image textures of thigh soft tissues between various athlete groups and non-athletes. Ninety female athletes representing five differently loading sport types (high impact, odd impact, high magnitude, repetitive low impact and repetitive non-impact), and 20 non-athletic clinically healthy female controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Five thigh muscles, subcutaneous fat and femoral bone marrow were analysed with co-occurrence matrix-based quantitative texture analysis at two anatomical levels of the dominant leg. Compared with the controls thigh muscle textures differed especially in high-impact and odd-impact exercise-loading groups. However, all sports appeared to modulate muscle textures to some extent. Fat tissue was found different among the low-impact group, and bone marrow was different in the high-impact group when compared to the controls. Exercise loading was associated with textural variation in magnetic resonance images of thigh soft tissues. Texture analysis proved a potential method for detecting apparent structural differences in the muscle, fat and bone marrow.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical Imaging Center and Hospital Pharmacy, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland; Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Minna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sikiö
authors.forename: Lara C V
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Riku
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nikander
authors.forename: Pertti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ryymin
authors.forename: Prasun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dastidar
authors.forename: Hannu J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Eskola
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sievänen
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D050151:Subcutaneous Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013848:Thigh
keywords: bone marrow; fat; femoral; impact; muscle; quantitative analysis; sport