Ultrasonographic findings of the normal diaphragm: thickness and contractility |
Jung Im Seok1, Shin Yeop Kim1, Francis O. Walker2, Sang Gyu Kwak3, and Doo Hyuk Kwon4 |
1Department of Neurology, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea 2Department of Neurology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA 3Medical Statistics & Informatics, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea 4Department of Neurology, CHA Gumi Medical Center, CHA University, Gumi, Korea |
Corresponding Author:
Francis O. Walker ,Tel: +1-336-716-7548 , Fax: +1-336-716-7794, Email: fwalker@wakehealth.edu |
Received March 9, 2017 Revised: April 26, 2017 Accepted May 12, 2017 |
Copyright © 2017 The Korean Society of Clinical Neurophysiology |
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. |
ABSTRACT |
Background: Neuromuscular ultrasound can be used to assess the diaphragm. Before it can be used clinically, the reference ranges of diaphragm thickness and contractility must be determined. Methods: We measured the thickness of the diaphragm and the diaphragmatic thickening fraction (DTF) in 80 healthy volunteers with ultrasound and collected their demographic information to determine if age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) influence these measures. Results: The thickness of the diaphragm at resting end expiration was 0.193 ± 0.044 cm on the right side and 0.187 ± 0.039 cm on the left. The DTF was 104.8 ± 50.6% on the right side and 114.9 ± 49.2% on the left. Sex, weight, height, and BMI significantly affected the thickness of the diaphragm, but had little effect on the DTF. Conclusions: Normal reference values for the diaphragm should be helpful when evaluating the diaphragm. The DTF appears more useful than resting diaphragm thickness because it is affected less by individual variation. |
Key words:
Ultrasonography; Reference values; Diaphragm |
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