this prospective study was approved by the institutional review board of our institution and written informed consent was obtained from all participants ' parents or guardians prior to enrollment . the patients diagnosed with dmd and who presented to our institution from june 2006 to october 2008 were recruited . the inclusion criteria were 1 ) the diagnosis of dmd was confirmed by genetic analysis or muscle biopsy , 2 ) a cfs of no ( value = 1 ) or minimal ( value = 2 ) muscle weakness and 3 ) they were planned to undergo oral steroid ( deflazacort ) treatment . eleven boys ( mean age : 8.5 years , age range : 5 to 14 years ) were included in this study . all the enrolled children underwent clinical assessment at two time points : prior to steroid treatment and during the steroid treatment . the cfs was assessed by two pediatric neurologists by consensus and they used the medical research council ( mrc ) scale with grading from 1 ( normal ) to 8 ( severe dysfunction ) . each patient started treatment with a 12 - 18 month course of oral steroids ( deflazacort ) immediately after the clinical assessment and the initial imaging assessment . conventional mri and t2 mapping were done prior to and during a 12 - 18 month course of steroid treatment . twenty - two mri studies were completed with a mean interval of 14.6 months between the mri examinations . conventional mri was performed using a 1.5 t imaging system ( 12x hd excite , ge medical systems , milwaukee , wi ) with an 8 channel receive - only phased array cardiac coil ( usa instruments , aurora , oh ) . each conventional mri study included at least one water sensitive sequence either in the coronal or axial plane : a fat - suppressed fast spin - echo ( fse ) t2-weighted sequence ( a tr / te [ msec ] of 2,500 - 5,000/64 - 82 - 5 , an echo train length of 6 - 8 , a 256  192 matrix , a slice thickness of 6 - 8 mm and a 1 mm slice gap ) or a fse inversion recovery - weighed sequence ( a tr / te of 4,500/35 , an inversion time of 155 msec , an echo train length of 8 , a 256  192 matrix , a slice thickness of 3 - 5 mm and a 1 - 2 mm slice gap ) . the axial and coronal conventional t1-weighted images were performed without fat suppression ( a tr / te of 500 - 600/14 - 23 ) . the field of view ranged from 20 to 28 cm and this was determined by the patient 's size in order to fully include the gluteal muscles . the axial and coronal t2 maps without fat saturation were obtained through the pelvic girdle using a t2-weighted multislice , multiecho sequence to quantify the spatial distribution of the t2 relaxation times . a nine echo train length was utilized : te = 9 , 18 ,  , 99 msec , tr = 1,500 msec . the total imaging time for both the conventional mri and the t2 mapping sequences ranged from 45 to 60 minutes . no intravenous contrast or sedation was utilized . as the t2 values can be affected by exercise or activity ( 14 ) , the patients were requested to not excessively ambulate or exercise for the 12 hours prior to the mri evaluations . the conventional mri examinations were interpreted by two radiologists ( one with pediatric radiology fellowship training and 17 years ' experience , and the other with both pediatric and musculoskeletal radiology fellowship training and 3 years ' experience ) by consensus . using the conventional t1-weighted sequence , muscle inflammation was assessed by the increased signal intensity on the fat suppressed fse t2-weighted images , or the fse inversion recovery sequence . the initial and follow - up mri examinations the t2 relaxation time pixel scale was color coded for easier interpretation and comparison over time . a region of interest ( roi ) was traced by a single radiologist around the entire right gluteus maximus muscle . using an institutional software program , the distribution of the t2 relaxation time was determined in the right gluteus maximus muscle roi . a histogram and the mean and standard deviation of the t2 relaxation time were obtained . as a given patient can have different muscle volumes at each time point , statistical analysis was performed using sas ( statistical software version 9.1 , sas institute , inc . , cary , nc ) . for each subject , a chi - square test was used to assess the change in the distribution of the histogram between the two t2 maps generated at each imaging assessment . all the enrolled children underwent clinical assessment at two time points : prior to steroid treatment and during the steroid treatment . the cfs was assessed by two pediatric neurologists by consensus and they used the medical research council ( mrc ) scale with grading from 1 ( normal ) to 8 ( severe dysfunction ) . each patient started treatment with a 12 - 18 month course of oral steroids ( deflazacort ) immediately after the clinical assessment and the initial imaging assessment . conventional mri and t2 mapping were done prior to and during a 12 - 18 month course of steroid treatment . twenty - two mri studies were completed with a mean interval of 14.6 months between the mri examinations . conventional mri was performed using a 1.5 t imaging system ( 12x hd excite , ge medical systems , milwaukee , wi ) with an 8 channel receive - only phased array cardiac coil ( usa instruments , aurora , oh ) . each conventional mri study included at least one water sensitive sequence either in the coronal or axial plane : a fat - suppressed fast spin - echo ( fse ) t2-weighted sequence ( a tr / te [ msec ] of 2,500 - 5,000/64 - 82 - 5 , an echo train length of 6 - 8 , a 256  192 matrix , a slice thickness of 6 - 8 mm and a 1 mm slice gap ) or a fse inversion recovery - weighed sequence ( a tr / te of 4,500/35 , an inversion time of 155 msec , an echo train length of 8 , a 256  192 matrix , a slice thickness of 3 - 5 mm and a 1 - 2 mm slice gap ) . the axial and coronal conventional t1-weighted images were performed without fat suppression ( a tr / te of 500 - 600/14 - 23 ) . the field of view ranged from 20 to 28 cm and this was determined by the patient 's size in order to fully include the gluteal muscles . the axial and coronal t2 maps without fat saturation were obtained through the pelvic girdle using a t2-weighted multislice , multiecho sequence to quantify the spatial distribution of the t2 relaxation times . a nine echo train length was utilized : te = 9 , 18 ,  , 99 msec , tr = 1,500 msec . the total imaging time for both the conventional mri and the t2 mapping sequences ranged from 45 to 60 minutes . no intravenous contrast or sedation was utilized . as the t2 values can be affected by exercise or activity ( 14 ) , the patients were requested to not excessively ambulate or exercise for the 12 hours prior to the mri evaluations . the conventional mri examinations were interpreted by two radiologists ( one with pediatric radiology fellowship training and 17 years ' experience , and the other with both pediatric and musculoskeletal radiology fellowship training and 3 years ' experience ) by consensus . using the conventional t1-weighted sequence , muscle inflammation was assessed by the increased signal intensity on the fat suppressed fse t2-weighted images , or the fse inversion recovery sequence . the initial and follow - up mri examinations were compared to identify interval changes of the fatty infiltration and inflammation . the t2 relaxation time pixel scale was color coded for easier interpretation and comparison over time . a region of interest ( roi ) was traced by a single radiologist around the entire right gluteus maximus muscle . using an institutional software program , the distribution of the t2 relaxation time was determined in the right gluteus maximus muscle roi . a histogram and the mean and standard deviation of the t2 relaxation time were obtained . as a given patient can have different muscle volumes at each time point , statistical analysis was performed using sas ( statistical software version 9.1 , sas institute , inc . , cary , nc ) . for each subject , a chi - square test was used to assess the change in the distribution of the histogram between the two t2 maps generated at each imaging assessment . the changes in the cfs , the conventional mri examinations and the t2 maps are summarized in figure 1 . before steroid treatment , all the boys had no or minimal weakness , which was determined by a cfs of 1 or 2 . during the course of steroid therapy , for the 11 patients , there was a wide range of mean t2 relaxation times obtained from the t2 maps prior to steroid therapy . the values ranged from 56.5 msec to 125.6 msec with an average of 79.1 msec . on the follow - up conventional mri examinations , two boys showed a subjectively judged increase of their fatty infiltration . none of the conventional mri examinations showed any abnormally increased signal on a fat suppressed fse t2-weighted or fse inversion recovery sequence to suggest inflammation , on either the initial or follow - up mri examination . the two boys with increased fatty infiltration seen on their follow - up conventional mri showed statistically significant different distributions of the t2 relaxation times on the histograms between the initial and follow - up studies . both boys had a statistically significant rightward shift of their histograms ( p < 0.05 ) with an increase in the mean t2 relaxation time ( fig . the t2 maps from the remaining nine boys who showed no change of muscle signal on conventional mri showed different distribution patterns on the histograms . three of the nine boys showed a statistically significant rightward shift of the histograms ( p < 0.05 ) between the initial and the follow - up examinations ( fig . two of the nine boys showed no statistically significant different distribution of the histograms ( fig . the remaining four boys showed a statistically significant leftward shift of the histograms ( p < 0.05 ) with a decrease of the mean t2 relaxation time ( fig . duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited disorder that is associated with an abnormal gene located at the xp21 location , and this causes the absence of dystrophin . this leads to reduced stability of muscle and the muscles are rendered more susceptible to necrosis ( 1 ) . muscle necrosis subsequently leads to progressive fatty infiltration , which results in the characteristic findings of increased signal intensity on the t1-weighted images of conventional mri ( 9 ) . this fatty infiltration involves the gluteus maximus and adductor muscles with relative sparing of the sartorius , gracilis , semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles ( 9 ) . however , the increased signal intensity , which can be seen on the water sensitive sequences such as the t2-weighted images with fat suppression or fse inversion recovery , suggests that muscle edema or inflammation might play a role in the early phases of muscle damage prior to the replacement of muscle tissue by fatty or fibrotic tissue ( 15 ) . the inflammatory pathway in dmd has also been suggested in clinical studies that have evaluated the effect of steroid therapy as a method to stabilize the muscle fiber membranes and attenuate muscle necrosis , and steroid therapy offers an immunosuppressive effect with a reduction of the mononucleated cells ( 16 - 19 ) . t2 mapping has been less frequently used to quantitatively measure the inflammation or fatty infiltration that results from diffuse muscle disease . a previous study that used t2 mapping of the lower extremity muscles at single time point in patients with dmd showed an increased t2 relaxation time in patients with severe muscle weakness , as compared to the t2 relaxation time in those patients who were less affected . those authors suggested that the increased t2 relaxation time resulted from the fatty infiltration within the muscle ( 12 , 20 ) . another study utilizing t2 mapping of the thigh muscles in patients with juvenile dermatomyositis showed an increased t2 relaxation time in patients with active disease , as compared to those patients who were thought to be inactive or who were normal controls . that study suggested that an increased t2 relaxation time was the result of inflammation ( 13 ) . the increased t2 relaxation time identified in muscles after exercise suggests that muscle activation results in an increased water content within the intracellular spaces ( 14 ) . the variable therapeutic effect of steroids in patients with dmd is well documented ( 21 , 22 ) . likewise , in our study , the mean change of the t2 relaxation time in the boys on steroid treatment was variable , including an increased , a stable and a decreased mean t2 relaxation time . the increase in the mean t2 relaxation time , as was determined by t2 mapping , was seen in five patients , included two who also showed a subjective increase in fatty infiltration within the gluteal muscles on conventional mri . this increase in the mean t2 relaxation time might be due to increased fatty infiltration despite steroid therapy . however , notwithstanding the eventual outcome , it is possible that steroid therapy might slow the progress of dmd . the lack of a statistically significant change of the mean t2 relaxation time in two of the boys on therapy might reflect the ability of steroids to diminish the natural progression of dmd . prior clinical studies have shown a relatively longer steroid effect in a group of patients with dmd and who also had the n 363s polymorphism , as compared to a non - carrier group ( 22 ) . although none of the patients in our study were evaluated for this specific gene , we suggest that some boys achieved a relatively stable disease state on steroid therapy . ( 19 ) showed a significant decrease in mononuclear cells in the muscle biopsies from patients with dmd and who were treated with steroids , as compared to an untreated group , and this suggested the steroids reversed the inflammatory changes . in four children in our study , a decrease in mean t2 relaxation time was seen while they were on steroid therapy . this finding might reflect a decrease in muscle inflammation , despite that there were no identifiable changes on conventional mri or on clinical assessment . no patient underwent muscle biopsy during steroid therapy to confirm the histologic changes suggested by the t2 mapping . furthermore , t2 mapping was not performed in a longitudinal fashion for boys who had not undergone treatment . further study with longer term follow up of a larger patient group may needed to determine the meaning of the different changes of the t2 relaxation time after steroid treatment in dmd patients . future studies with larger size cohorts might be useful to predict the response to treatment in patients with different compounding factors , such as the patient age at disease onset , the disease severity and the degree of muscle inflammation before treatment . we conclude that t2 mapping is a feasible quantitative technique that can be used in the longitudinal assessment of the muscle changes in children who are on steroid therapy for dmd . the t2 maps generated in children who are undergoing steroid therapy might reflect alterations in the disease activity , which includes the changes in the extent of inflammation and fatty infiltration even when the conventional mri examinations and cfss remain stable .
objectiveto determine the feasibility of using t2 mapping as a quantitative method to longitudinally follow the disease activity in children with duchenne muscular dystrophy ( dmd ) who are treated with steroids.materials and methodseleven boys with dmd ( age range : 5 - 14 years ) underwent evaluation with the clinical functional score ( cfs ) , and conventional pelvic mri and t2 mapping before and during steroid therapy . 
 the gluteus muscle inflammation and fatty infiltration were evaluated on conventional mri . the histograms and mean t2 relaxation times were obtained from the t2 maps . 
 the cfs , the conventional mri findings and the t2 values were compared before and during steroid therapy.resultsnone of the patients showed interval change of their cfss . on conventional mri , 
 none of the images showed muscle inflammation . during steroid treatment , two boys showed increased fatty infiltration on conventional mri , and both had an increase of the mean t2 relaxation time ( p < 0.05 ) . 
 the remaining nine boys had no increase in fatty infiltration . 
 of these , three showed an increased mean t2 relaxation time ( p < 0.05 ) , two showed no change and four showed a decreased mean t2 relaxation time ( p < 0.05).conclusiont2 mapping is a feasible technique to evaluate the longitudinal muscle changes in those children who receive steroid therapy for dmd . 
 the differences of the mean t2 relaxation time may reflect alterations in disease activity , and even when the conventional mri and cfs remain stable .