BACKGROUND: High-intensity focused electromagnetic (HIFEM) field technology has been reported to increase muscle thickness and hypertrophy. However, this process has not yet been confirmed on a histologic level. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate in-vivo structural changes in striated porcine muscle tissue following HIFEM treatment. METHODS: Three Yorkshire pigs received four 30-minute HIFEM treatments applied to the biceps femoris muscle on 1 side only. The fourth pig served as a control subject. At baseline and 2 weeks after the last treatment, biopsy specimens of the muscle tissue were collected from the treatment site. The control pig underwent muscle biopsy from a similar but untreated site. Twenty-five histology slides were evaluated from each pig. A certified histopathologist analyzed sliced biopsy samples for structural changes in the tissue. RESULTS: Histologic analysis showed hypertrophic changes 2 weeks posttreatment. The muscle mass density increased by 20.56% (to a mean of 17,053.4 [5617.9] µm2) compared with baseline. Similarly, muscle fiber density (hyperplasia) increased: the average change in the number of fibers in a slice area of 136,533.3 µm2 was +8.0%. The mean size of an individual muscle fiber increased by 12.15% (to 332.23 [280.2] µm2) 2 weeks posttreatment. Control samples did not show any significant change in fiber density or hyperplasia. CONCLUSIONS: Histopathologic quantification showed significant structural muscle changes through a combination of fiber hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Control biopsies showed a lack of similar changes. The data correlate with findings of other HIFEM research and suggest that HIFEM could be used for noninvasive induction of muscle growth.
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Duncan et al. (2019) studied this question.