title: Use of routine clinical multimodality imaging in a rabbit model of osteoarthritis--part I.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate in vivo the evolution of osteoarthritis (OA) lesions temporally in a rabbit model of OA with clinically available imaging modalities: computed radiography (CR), helical single-slice computed tomography (CT), and 1.5 tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Imaging was performed on knees of anesthetized rabbits [10 anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) and contralateral sham joints and six control rabbits] at baseline and at intervals up to 12 weeks post-surgery. Osteophytosis, subchondral bone sclerosis, bone marrow lesions (BMLs), femoropatellar effusion and articular cartilage were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CT had the highest sensitivity (90%) and specificity (91%) to detect osteophytes. A significant increase in total joint osteophyte score occurred at all time-points post-operatively in the ACLT group alone. BMLs were identified and occurred most commonly in the lateral femoral condyle of the ACLT joints and were not identified in the tibia. A significant increase in joint effusion was present in the ACLT joints until 8 weeks after surgery. Bone sclerosis or cartilage defects were not reliably assessed with the selected imaging modalities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combined, clinically available CT and 1.5 T MRI allowed the assessment of most of the characteristic lesions of OA and at early time-points in the development of the disease. However, the selected 1.5 T MRI sequences and acquisition times did not permit the detection of cartilage lesions in this rabbit OA model.
authors.affiliation: Département de Sciences Cliniques, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouchgua
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: M André
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: d'Anjou
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: E Norman
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Carmel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beauchamp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laverty