ReviewQuantitative imaging in medicine and surgery2025
Ultrasound cut-off values for muscle thickness, cross-sectional area, and echo intensity in Caucasian adults: a narrative review.
Review in Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Editorial: Advancing muscle health: from technical and clinical research to practice.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Article
- Value of grayscale histogram analysis based on ultrasound images in diagnosing sarcopenia.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The aging process is accompanied by the loss of muscle mass. Ultrasound emerges as promising, although, ultrasound routine screening for low muscle mass is challenging due to the lack of reference values. This review presents a comprehensive overview of cut-off values for predicting and diagnosing low muscle mass and quality. Methods: We used PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to gather pertinent articles up until April 2024. The quality of the articles was screened with the Pretorius and Keating [2008] assessment questionnaire. Our aim was to identify articles that assessed cut-off values for skeletal muscle thickness, cross-sectional area (CSA), and echo intensity using ultrasound in Caucasian adults. Key Content and Findings: This review incorporates thirteen articles of high quality and four of moderate quality. Fifteen articles investigated cut-off values for muscle thickness of muscles in the arms, legs, and trunk. Four studies reported CSA cut-off values, and only two studies provided echo intensity cut-off values. It appears that the cut-off values are influenced by participant characteristics, the ultrasound measurement method, and the statistical method that is used to assess the cut-off value. Conclusions: This review represents an overview of muscle cut-off values for diagnosing conditions such as sarcopenia and low muscle mass. The most studied and useful cut-off values pertain to the muscle thickness measurements of the gastrocnemius, quadriceps, rectus abdominis, and tibialis anterior muscles.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.