Objective To explore the application value of real-time shear wave elastography（SWE）in the assessment of muscle elastic modulus in patients with sarcopenia.Methods Twenty-two patients with sarcopenia（lesion group）and twenty-one healthy subjects（control group）with matched age and sex in our hospital were selected.The shear wave velocity（SWV）of the long axis of quadriceps femoris muscles（vastus lateralis

rectus femoris

vastus medialis and vastus intermedius）

hamstrings（biceps femoris

semitendinosus and semimembranosus）and biceps brachii in a relaxed state on the dominant side were obtained by SWE

and the results were compared and analyzed. The correlation between muscle SWV and age

sex

height

body mass

body mass index were analyzed by multiple linear regression.Results There were significant differences in the SWV values of vastus lateralis

rectus femoris

vastus medialis

vastus intermedius

biceps femoris

semitendinosus

semimembranosus and biceps brachii between lesion group and control group in the relaxed state（all P<0.001）. Compared with control group in the relaxed state

the SWV values of lesion group of the vastus lateralis

rectus femoris

vastus medialis

vastus intermedius

biceps femoris

semitendinosus

semimembranosus and biceps brachii muscles were decreased by 7.8%

7.0%

7.3%

7.3%

7.1%

7.3%

6.5% and 6.7%

respectively. Compared with control group

the SWV value of long axis of the semimembranosus muscle decreased the least in lesion group

and of the vastus lateralis muscle decreased the most significantly.Multiple linear regression showed that both age and body mass index were the influencing factors of elastic modulus of skeletal muscle in patients with sarcopenia.Conclusion Real-time SWE can detect the elastic modulus in skeletal muscle of patients with sarcopenia

it provides a new method for assessing the muscle status of sarcopenia patients.