Total Psoas Area and Psoas Density Assessment in COVID-19 Patients Using CT Imaging – Could Muscle Mass Alteration During Intensive Care Hospitalization be Determined?
Abstract
Background
Since its debut, as reported by the first published studies, COVID-19 has been linked to life-threatening conditions that needed vital assistance and admission to the intensive care unit. Skeletal muscle is a core element in an organism’s health due to its ability to keep energy balance and homeostasis. Many patients with prolonged hospitalization are characterized by a greater probability prone to critical illness myopathy or intensive care unit-acquired weakness.
Objective
The main aim of this study was to assess the skeletal muscle in a COVID-19 cohort of critically ill patients by measuring the psoas area and density.
Material and methods
This is a retrospective study that included critically ill adult patients, COVID-19 positive, mechanically ventilated, with an ICU stay of over 24 hours, and who had 2 CT scans eligible for psoas muscle evaluation. In these patients, correlations between different severity scores and psoas CT scans were sought, along with correlations with the outcome of the patients.
Results
Twenty-two patients met the inclusion criteria. No statistically significant differences were noticed regarding the psoas analysis by two blinded radiologists. Significant correlations were found between LOS in the hospital and in ICU with psoas area and Hounsfield Units for the first CT scan performed. With reference to AUC-ROC and outcome, it is underlined that AUC-ROC is close to 0.5 values, for both the psoas area and HU, indicating that the model had no class separation capacity.
Conclusion
The study suggested that over a short period, the psoas muscle area, and the psoas HU decline, for both the left and the right sight, in adult COVID-19 patients in ICU conditions, yet not statistically significant. Although more than two-thirds of the patients had a negative outcome, it was not possible to demonstrate an association between the SARS-COV2 infection and psoas muscle impairment. These findings highlight the need for further larger investigations.
© 2023 Oana Elena Branea, Anca Gabriela Vlad, Mihai Pui, Diana Andreea Becica, Mihai Emanuel Becica, AnaMaria Romina Budeanu, Razvan Gabriel Budeanu, Florin Stoica, Alexandra Elena Lazar, published by University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu Mures
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.