Dr Bart Bolsterlee - Quantitative analysis of three-dimensional muscle shape and architecture

Skeletal muscles have a remarkable ability to adapt in shape, size and architecture in response to changes in mechanical loading or with disease. Investigations of skeletal muscle architecture have typically used simplistic, two-dimensional measures from ultrasound images. Through advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), specifically in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of skeletal muscles, it is now possible to obtain comprehensive, three-dimensional measurements of the shape and architecture of skeletal muscles in living humans. In this seminar, the concepts underlying muscle architecture reconstructions from DTI will be explained, and a new framework for analysis of 3D shape and architecture of skeletal muscles from MRI and DTI data will be presented.