Fig. 1

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including T2 mapping of the upper trapezius muscles. This figure captures an exemplary case by showing representative axial slices of the T2-weighted DIXON turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence (upper row). The left upper corner shows the T2-weighted DIXON TSE water image, the right upper corner captures the T2-weighted DIXON TSE fat image. Furthermore, T2 maps as derived from the T2-prepared TSE sequence are displayed (lower row). The left lower corner pictures the color-coded T2 map, the right lower corner shows the same color-coded T2 map after manual placement of regions of interest (ROIs) in the right upper trapezius muscle and with respect to a signal alteration (T2 elevation) within the muscle. In this exemplary case, the signal alteration was located in the area of a manually defined myofascial trigger point (mTrP), as indicated by the spatial relation to superficially attached nitroglycerine capsules as markers. The signal alteration in terms of the circumscribed T2 elevation shows a T2-hyperintense correlate in the T2-weighted DIXON TSE water image