Quantitative Ultrasound of Orofacial Muscles in Infants from 6 Months to 5 Years: Collecting Normal Values

摘要

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to obtain normal values for muscle thickness (MT) and echogenicity of orofacial muscles in infants between 6 months and 5 years old. The data may be compared with data of patients with a neuromuscular disorder (NMD) to differentiate between healthy infants and patients and to explain oromotor dysfunction. Aims of this study were to provide normal values for the thickness of the tongue, digastric muscles, temporalis muscles and masseter muscles and the echogenicity of the digastric muscles, masseter muscles, temporalis muscles and geniohyoid muscles, and to establish the influence of gender, age, height and bodyweight on the thickness and echogenicity of the orofacial muscles.