Design and Validation of a Novel Method to Measure Cross-Sectional Area of Neck Muscles Included during Routine MR Brain Volume Imaging

Introduction Low muscle mass secondary to disease and ageing is an important cause of excess mortality and morbidity. Many studies include a MR brain scan but no peripheral measure of muscle mass. We developed a technique to measure posterior neck muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) on volumetric MR brain scans enabling brain and muscle size to be measured simultaneously.