Longitudinal Femoral Cartilage T2 Relaxation Time and Thickness Changes with Fast Sequential Radiographic Progression of Medial Knee Osteoarthritis—Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI)

Abstract

This study tested for longitudinal changes in femoral cartilage T2 relaxation time and thickness in fast-progressing medial femorotibial osteoarthritis (OA). From the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) database, nineteen knees fulfilled the inclusion criteria, which included medial femorotibial OA and sequential progression from Kellgren–Lawrence grade (KL) 1 to KL2 to KL3 within five years. Median T2 value and mean thickness were calculated for six condylar volumes of interest (VOIs; medial/lateral anterior, central, posterior) and six sub-VOIs (medial/lateral anterior external, central, internal). T2 value and thickness changes between severity timepoints were tested using repeated statistics. T2 values increased between KL1 and KL2 and between KL1 and KL3 in the medial compartment (p ≤ 0.02), whereas both increases and decreases were observed between the same timepoints in the lateral compartment (p ≤ 0.02). Cartilage thickness decreased in VOI/subVOIs of the medial compartment from KL1 to KL2 and KL3 (p ≤ 0.014). Cartilage T2 value and thickness changes varied spatially over the femoral condyles. While all T2 changes occurred in the early radiographic stages of OA, thickness changes occurred primarily in the later stages. These data therefore support the use of T2 relaxation time analyses in methods of detecting disease-related change during early OA, a valuable period for therapeutic interventions.

Trans-Posterior Cruciate Ligament All-Inside Root Repair Versus Partial Meniscectomy for Medial Meniscus Posterior Root Tears: Comparison of Semiquantitative and Quantitative MRI Outcomes in Cartilage Degeneration and Osteoarthritic Progression

“…Considered as the essential part of OA, cartilage is the most-commonly assessed structure in quantitative MRI of OA research. 29,30,33,39 Previous studies have reported that cartilage thickness decreased in the medial load-bearing regions primarily between K-L grade 2 and K-L grade 3 radiographic stages, 29 while it increased in the posterior aspect of femoral condyles throughout the disease due to anabolic processes initiated in reaction to OA. 30 However, Reichenbach et al 33 reported that quantitative measurement of cartilage volume and thickness did not distinguish focal cartilage loss in mild OA from non-OA, which could be detected by experienced readers applying semiquantitative methods.…”

“…Cartilage volume and thickness assessed by MRI have been regarded as important quantitative markers of knee osteoarthritic status. 29 , 30 , 33 , 39 The DESS DICOM data were analyzed in Mimics (Materialize Interactive Medical Image Control System; 26.0) software. Slice by slice, the profiles of the patellar, femoral and tibial cartilage were outlined manually.…”

“… 25 , 28 Quantitative MRI evaluation of KOA includes morphological measurement and compositional imaging. 29 - 32 Considering that cartilage damage is one of the central elements in KOA progression, quantitative measurement of the thickness/volume of cartilage is needed to aid in the diagnosis of early OA. 30 , 33 Compositional MRI analysis has been performed in MMPRTs, and localized compositional changes in cartilage were observed in the weightbearing regions 6 months after partial meniscectomy, suggesting that the loading environment has been altered enough to result in early cartilage degeneration in a very brief period of time.…”

Defining and predicting radiographic knee osteoarthritis progression: a systematic review of findings from the osteoarthritis initiative

“…Of these studies, 41 articles met inclusion criteria with clear definitions of radiographic KOA progression described. There were 28 studies that analyzed various risk factors for progression, with specific definitions of radiographic KOA progression as the outcome variables (Table 1) [4, 5, 8, 9, 12–17, 21, 25, 26, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 41, 43, 46–51]. The 13 other studies out of the 41 total created or validated prediction models, tools, or risk calculators for radiographic KOA progression (Table 2) [1, 7, 10, 11, 18, 20, 22–24, 29, 33, 36, 40].…”

Associations of Longitudinal Multiparametric MRI Findings and Clinical Outcomes in Intra-Articular Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis

“…Baseline MRI compositional markers may not provide better discrimination between knees with OA progression and those without signi cant progression than simple radiographic measures [20,21]. Edd et al investigated longitudinal change in femoral cartilage T2 value and thickness in progressive OA and found that T2 values increased in the early stage and cartilage thickness decreased mainly in the later stage [22]. These ndings support the ability of the cartilage imaging biomarker to predict OA severity and progression dependent on the disease stage.…”