Fat fraction dependent decrease of muscle 1H2O T2 in Duchenne muscular dystrophy is steeper in patients with faster disease progression

Fatty tissue replacement of muscle is characteristic of disease progression in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and correlates with a decrease in muscle 1H2O T2. We report longitudinal analysis of MRS data from 86 subjects with DMD. We detect a significant effect of μ (age at 50% fat-fraction) on the slope of T2 by FF. The effect of μ on slope is a consequence of lower T2 at high FF in early progressing subjects, not an effect of T2 differences at low FF. The slope of muscle water T2 decline with FF may contain additional information related to pathology in DMD.