title: Relationship between the area of cartilage shown on the magnetic resonance imaging middle-slice image of the medial and lateral tibial cartilages with cartilage volume and grade of osteoarthritis over time.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Knee cartilage volume measurement requires significant time and training. Simplifying the measurement may improve feasibility. We investigated whether the area of cartilage shown on the middle slice of the medial and lateral tibial cartilages on sagittal MRI correlates with radiological features of osteoarthritis (OA), cartilage volume, and longitudinal change in cartilage volume.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and seventy-three subjects (normal and osteoarthritic), who had serial magnetic resonance imaging (cartilage volume measured) and baseline weight-bearing antero-posterior radiographs of the same knee were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the lateral compartment, with increasing grade of OA there was a significant reduction in cartilage area. In the medial compartment, this was true for medial joint-space narrowing (after adjusting for gender). There was a moderate to strong association between cartilage area and volume, especially in those with early or no OA. However, when change over time was examined, the strength of these relationships was weak.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggests that cartilage area may provide a simple surrogate measure of cartilage volume, in cross-sectional studies, after adjustment for gender: especially in subjects with early disease. However, before it can be widely used, further investigation will be required.
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Sciences, RMIT-University.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dashti
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Wluka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geso
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stuckey
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Cicuttini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011336:Probability; D011859:Radiography; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013977:Tibia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology