Relationship between knee alignment and T1ρ values of articular cartilage and menisci in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Objective To assess the relationship between knee alignment and subregional T1rho values of the femorotibial cartilage and menisci in patients with mild (Kellgren-Lawrence grade 1) to moderate (KL3) osteoarthritis (OA) at 3T. Materials and methods 26 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of KL1-3 OA were included and subdivided into three subgroups: varus, valgus, and neutral. All subjects were evaluated on a 3T MR scanner. Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were performed to determine any statistically significant differences in subregional T1rho values of femorotibial cartilage and menisci among the three subgroups of KL1-3 OA patients. Results Medial femoral anterior cartilage subregion in varus group had significantly higher (p < 0.05) T1rho values than all cartilage subregions in valgus group. Medial tibial central cartilage subregion had significantly higher T1rho values (p < 0.05) than lateral tibial central cartilage subregion in varus group. The posterior horn of the medial meniscus in neutral group had significantly higher T1rho values (p < 0.0029) than all meniscus subregions in valgus group. Conclusion There exists some degree of association between knee alignment and subregional T1rho values of femorotibial cartilage and menisci in patients with clinical OA.

Patellofemoral alignment and geometry and early signs of osteoarthritis are associated in patellofemoral pain population

“…40 Wang et al found higher T1ρ values on the medial anterior femur in OA patients with knee varus. 41 We suspected lateral and medial patellar translation to have a greater association with lateral and medial trochlear cartilage T1ρ values, respectively. However, additional explorative analyses in the current study with separate medial and lateral trochlear T1ρ relaxation times did not show a difference in the association with patellar translation between the lateral and medial compartment.…”

“…This is in line with other studies which have described a loss of cartilage thickness associated with knee malalignment . Wang et al found higher T1ρ values on the medial anterior femur in OA patients with knee varus . We suspected lateral and medial patellar translation to have a greater association with lateral and medial trochlear cartilage T1ρ values, respectively.…”

Physical Activity and Spatial Differences in Medial Knee T1rho and T2 Relaxation Times in Knee Osteoarthritis

“…4 In cohorts of less than 30 individuals, people with medial knee OA who had varus alignment were found to have higher cartilage T1rho and T2 than those with valgus alignment. 20,55 Most of these studies either were in healthy cohorts or had a small sample size. Longitudinal studies in larger samples, like the OAI cohort, are needed to understand the effect of these OA risk factors on cartilage degeneration over time.…”

T1ρ MRI of human musculoskeletal system

“…T 1r -weighted imaging has been extensively used in the past decades to assess pathology of liver, muscle, breast, brain, and tumor (32,33,47,115,122,129,130,(132)(133)(134) besides those of human MSK system (9,34,36,38,44,47,53,(62)(63)(64)(65)(66)(67)(68)(69)(105)(106)(107)(108)(109)(110)124). These studies have demonstrated the potential values of T 1r imaging for evaluating various physiologic and pathologic states.…”