Detecting muscle twitches with ultrasound imaging

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The use of ultrasound imaging for detection of involuntary twitches in skeletal muscles

• IRAS ID

  133662

• Contact name

  Nicholas Combes

• Contact email

  nicholas.combes@lthtr.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Research summary

  We are currently working on developing new methods of diagnosing degenerative diseases which affect skeletal muscles, an example of which is motor neurone disease. Currently, doctors usually diagnose conditions like Motor Neurone Disease (MND) by using a technique called needle Electromyography (EMG). The technique involves placing a needle in different muscles and recording the electrical activity which occurs when the muscle is activated. Different types of activation, or muscle twitches, occur between healthy and affected people. We wish to develop techniques which will allow ultrasound images of the muscles, recorded in the same way mothers are scanned during pregnancy, to be used to identify the occurrence of different types of twitch. This offers the possibility of painless, stress free examinations which can be applied to a wide range of muscles and can be repeated as often as needed for clinical or research purposes.
  The first step in this process is to develop a computer program which is able to analyse a sequence of images and accurately identify when and how many twitches occurred. To do this we need to record images of muscles twitching and at the same time record the electrical activity from the muscle. Recording the electrical activity will help us interpret the movements which occur in the images and develop computer software which can automatically distinguish between different types of twitch and be used in the future as a non-invasive method of identifying and quantifying their occurrence. We have an experimental protocol established to do this in healthy individuals. However, to develop a computer program that will be able to identify twitches associated with disease we need to collect image sequences which contain unhealthy muscle twitches and therefore need to work with individuals who have been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

• REC name

  North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  13/NW/0859

• Date of REC Opinion

  4 Mar 2014

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion