Quantitative ultrasound imaging of intrinsic hand muscles after traumatic cervical spinal cord injury

STUDY DESIGN This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. OBJECTIVES To quantify differences in hand muscle morphology between persons with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) and uninjured adults. SETTING The study was performed at the Guangdong Work Injury Rehabilitation Hospital. METHODS We quantified hand muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), thickness, and echo intensity (EI) in 18 persons with subacute to chronic SCI and 23 controls using ultrasound imaging. RESULTS Mean SCI abductor pollicis brevis (APB), abductor digiti minimi (ADM), and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) CSA were ~26%, 43%, and 37% smaller than the control means, the deficit in the APB being less than the ADM (P