# Ultrasound and MRI map 3D compartments of the finger flexor muscle in ten healthy volunteers

- Published: 2026-11-11 13:01 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: flexor digitorum superficialis, neuromuscular compartments, dynamic ultrasound, MRI tractography, finger motor control, surface electromyography, muscle fiber trajectories, neuromuscular digital twins, neuromuscular interfaces
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-1e6c260977728e1878687c8c_ultrasound_and_mri/

**A team combined dynamic ultrasound with MRI to reconstruct compartments and fibers of the flexor digitorum superficialis in vivo. The work covered ten healthy people.**

![Ultrasound and MRI map 3D compartments of the finger flexor muscle in ten healthy volunteers](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/c907a6d85d911a3f.jpg)
*Goleisureintl, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0*

A research team reported in Nature Communications a multimodal imaging framework that combines dynamic ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It segments neuromuscular compartments and reconstructs the in vivo three-dimensional architecture of the flexor digitorum superficialis, a finger flexor muscle. The method was tested in ten healthy individuals [1].

Neuromuscular compartments are the functional substrate for finger-specific motor control. Their 3D structure in living tissue had remained unresolved, because the compartments lack clear fascial landmarks for imaging [1].

## How compartments are delineated

Participants performed isolated finger flexion while dynamic ultrasound recorded the tissue. From these recordings the authors estimated tissue movement directions, which delineate the compartment contours [1].

The contours were then mapped into a 3D MRI reference to produce volumetric compartment masks. The masks served as constraints for tractography, which reconstructed 3D fiber trajectories and yielded compartment-specific architectural measurements [1].

## What the comparison showed

In the ten healthy individuals, compartment topology and fiber orientations were consistent with classic cadaveric anatomy, according to the authors [1]. The estimated compartments also accurately predicted the amplitude distributions of surface electromyography [1].

The authors state that the framework provides 3D fiber trajectories and quantitative parameters for finger-specific computational models. They describe it as a foundation for subject-specific neuromuscular digital twins and next-generation neuromuscular interfaces [1].

The study is a methods demonstration in healthy volunteers. The material does not report application to patients or clinical use.

The paper, by Li, Yu, Kang, Yin, Ma, Wei, Li, Sheng, Farina, Zhu and co-authors, was published in 2026 in Nature Communications (DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-79116-1) [1].

## Sources

1. [Nature Communications](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-79116-1)
2. [bioengineer.org](https://bioengineer.org/dynamic-ultrasound-and-mri-map-3d-architecture-of-finger-muscle-compartments)

---

Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-1e6c260977728e1878687c8c_ultrasound_and_mri/