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CompletedNCT05091502Updated Jan 23, 2023

Personalised Modeling and Simulation Procedures for the Differential Diagnosis of Dynapenia: a Study on Healthy Volunteers

An interventional study of Personalised musculoskeletal modeling in Healthy, sponsored by Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli. Completed at 1 site in Italy. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 40 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-01-23.

Sponsored by Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
20 Years to 40 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The ForceLoss study aims to develop personalised modeling and simulation procedures to enable the differential diagnosis for the loss of muscle force, namely dynapenia. Dynapenia can be caused by diffuse or selective sarcopenia, lack of activation, or improper motor control. Each of these causes requires different interventions, but a reliable differential diagnosis is currently impossible. While instrumental methods can provide information on each of these possible causes, it is left to the experience of the single clinician to integrate such information into a complete diagnostic picture. But an accurate diagnosis for dynapenia is important in a number of pathologies, including neurological diseases, age-related frailty, diabetes, and orthopaedic conditions. The hypothesis is that the use of a mechanistic, subject-specific model of maximum isometric knee extension, informed by a number of instrumental information can provide a robust differential diagnosis of dynapenia.

In this preliminary study, on healthy volunteers, the investigators will develop and optimize (i) the experimental protocol and (ii) the modeling and simulation framework, assessing both feasibility and reliability of the proposed procedures. Medical imaging, electromyography (EMG) and dynamometry data will be collected and combined to inform a personalised musculoskeletal model of each participant. Biomechanical computer simulations of a Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC) task will then be performed. To validate the proposed approach, the models' estimates will be compared to in vivo dynamometry measurements and experimental EMG data.

02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy

Keywords

  • Musculoskeletal modeling
  • In silico medicine
  • Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction
  • Electromyography
  • Healthy volunteers
  • Dynapenia
  • Dynamometry
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli is the lead sponsor of 298 studies on the registry; 102 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Body mass index (BMI) between 15 and 30 kg / m²

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Neurological, rheumatic or tumoral diseases;
  • Pathologies or physical conditions incompatible with the use of magnetic resonance imaging and electrostimulation (i.e., active and passive implanted biomedical devices, epilepsy, severe venous insufficiency in the lower limbs, pregnancy);
  • Previous interventions or traumas to the joints of the lower limb.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Other
    Healthy volunteers

    Diagnostic Test: Personalised musculoskeletal modeling

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testPersonalised musculoskeletal modeling

    Magnetic resonance images, electromyography and dynamometry data will be used to develop personalised musculoskeletal models

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Muscle volume

    Full lower limb MRI data will be acquired with subjects in supine position. Individual muscle volumes (in cm3) will be segmented using commercial software and stored in anonymized form. Such data will serve as normative dataset/threshold in future studies that aim to assess (the severity of) sarcopenia in a patient population.

    Time frame: at baseline (Day 0)

  2. Co-contraction index (CCI)

    Experimental EMG data will be recorded from the major lower limb muscles involved in the knee extension, while participants perform a maximal voluntary isometric contraction on a dynamometer (i.e., MVIC test to quantify muscle strength). The co-contraction index, defined as the relative activation of agonist and antagonist muscles (for this task: quadriceps and hamstrings) in the act of kicking (MVIC test), will be computed according to Li et al (2020). EMG patterns (mV) will additionally be stored and will constitute a normative dataset, for qualitative comparisons to identify suboptimal muscle control or altered muscle activation patterns in dynapenic patients in future studies that aim to assess (the severity of) dynapenia in a patient population.

    Time frame: at baseline (Day 0)

  3. MVIC Torque

    Dynamometry data will be acquired while participants perform a MVIC leg extension test. The maximum torque values (Nm) measured over three repetitions will be recorded. These correspond to the values observed in correspondence of the plateaux of force, developed over a sustained contraction. Such data will serve as normative dataset/threshold in future studies that aim to assess (the severity of) dynapenia in a patient population.

    Time frame: at baseline (Day 0)

07

Study locations

1 site
  • IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli
    Bologna, Emilia-Romagna 40136, Italy
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Pons C, Borotikar B, Garetier M, Burdin V, Ben Salem D, Lempereur M, Brochard S. Quantifying skeletal muscle volume and shape in humans using MRI: A systematic review of validity and reliability. PLoS One. 2018 Nov 29;13(11):e0207847. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207847. eCollection 2018. PubMed 30496308 ↗
  • Nishikawa Y, Watanabe K, Takahashi T, Hosomi N, Orita N, Mikami Y, Maruyama H, Kimura H, Matsumoto M. Sex differences in variances of multi-channel surface electromyography distribution of the vastus lateralis muscle during isometric knee extension in young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2017 Mar;117(3):583-589. doi: 10.1007/s00421-017-3559-3. Epub 2017 Feb 20. PubMed 28220239 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — We plan to share a database of normative experimental data representative of a healthy adult population. The dataset will include the force profiles and the EMG data recorded during the MVIC test, and may include Magnetic Resonance Imaging data. All data will be irreversibly anonymized.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 23, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05091502
Lead sponsor
Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 25, 2021
Start date
Sep 2, 2022
Primary completion
Nov 10, 2022
Completion
Nov 11, 2022
Last update
Jan 23, 2023

Study contacts

Marco Viceconti, Professor
principal investigator · IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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