A simple ultrasound scan of a person’s thigh or shoulder might help doctors find early signs of diabetes—even before a blood test can. A new study from Michigan Medicine shows that this easy and painless method could help detect insulin resistance, which often comes years before type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
In the study, researchers looked at 25 people who had never been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes. They used a common medical tool—ultrasound—to look at the muscles in the thigh and shoulder. This is the same kind of scan used during pregnancy or to check organs.
What they found was surprising: the muscles of people who had insulin resistance or early signs of poor insulin function looked brighter on the screen than those of healthy people.
Two trained assistants carefully checked the images. They found that all eight people with insulin resistance, and all seven with early signs of insulin problems, had muscles that appeared unusually bright. This brightness is known as increased echo intensity. The researchers said this method could be nearly 100% accurate in picking up these conditions.
Dr. Steve Soliman, the lead author of the study and an expert in muscle ultrasound at the University of Michigan, said he had noticed the bright muscle patterns in many patients over the years.
He explained that when looking at shoulder scans for unrelated reasons, he and his team often saw bright muscles in people who later turned out to have type 2 diabetes. Some of these people didn’t even know they were sick until their medical records or blood tests confirmed it.
Even more interestingly, some people had bright muscles but normal blood sugar results. When these patients were followed up later, many of them had developed prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
This suggests that the muscle scan might spot the problem before traditional tests can. That’s important because insulin resistance—when the body’s cells don’t respond well to insulin—can begin years, even decades, before full-blown diabetes.
Around the world, many people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes don’t know they have it. Experts estimate that about 232 million people with diabetes and 438 million with prediabetes remain undiagnosed.
In the United States alone, about 100 million people are believed to have these conditions without knowing it. By the time many people are diagnosed, it’s already too late to prevent serious health problems.
Dr. Soliman had previously studied muscle ultrasound at Henry Ford Hospital. That earlier research showed that ultrasound could detect signs of diabetes, but this new study went a step further. This time, the participants didn’t yet have diabetes, but had their insulin sensitivity measured with a special technique called the insulin clamp test.
While the ultrasound detected insulin resistance, the brightness of the muscle didn’t exactly match how severe the problem was. The researchers believe this could be because the study group was small. They are now working on collecting more data from more people.
One question that still needs an answer is: why do these muscles look brighter? Early studies suggest that fat builds up in the muscles of people with insulin resistance, and this fat might be causing the brightness. There may also be some scarring or damage in the muscle. More research is needed to understand exactly what is going on.
Still, the idea that a quick, easy scan could predict a person’s risk of diabetes is exciting. The tool is safe, doesn’t use radiation, and is widely available. In the future, machines that use artificial intelligence might be able to check the images automatically.
Even staff with very little training—like a medical assistant—might be able to use it as simply as taking a patient’s weight or blood pressure.
Since many people don’t go to the doctor unless they feel sick, this kind of scan could be offered at urgent care clinics, pharmacies, or community health fairs. That way, more people could be checked, and those at risk could be warned early.
In summary, this study offers a promising new way to detect insulin resistance and prevent diabetes using a simple tool we already have. The results are very hopeful, especially for people who may not have easy access to blood tests or regular doctor visits.
While the research is still ongoing, this could one day become a normal part of routine health checks, giving people a better chance to stay healthy and avoid the serious effects of type 2 diabetes.
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The research findings can be found in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine.
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