Arthroscopy vs. MRI for a detailed assessment of cartilage disease in osteoarthritis: diagnostic value of MRI in clinical practice.
BACKGROUND
In patients with osteoarthritis, a detailed assessment of degenerative cartilage disease is important to recommend adequate treatment. Using a representative sample of patients, this study investigated whether MRI is reliable for a detailed cartilage assessment in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.


METHODS
In a cross sectional-study as a part of a retrospective case-control study, 36 patients (mean age 53.1 years) with clinically relevant osteoarthritis received standardized MRI (sag. T1-TSE, cor. STIR-TSE, trans. fat-suppressed PD-TSE, sag. fat-suppressed PD-TSE, Siemens Magnetom Avanto syngo MR B 15) on a 1.5 Tesla unit. Within a maximum of three months later, arthroscopic grading of the articular surfaces was performed. MRI grading by two blinded observers was compared to arthroscopic findings. Diagnostic values as well as intra- and inter-observer values were assessed.


RESULTS
Inter-observer agreement between readers 1 and 2 was good (kappa = 0.65) within all compartments. Intra-observer agreement comparing MRI grading to arthroscopic grading showed moderate to good values for readers 1 and 2 (kappa = 0.50 and 0.62, respectively), the poorest being within the patellofemoral joint (kappa = 0.32 and 0.52). Sensitivities were relatively low at all grades, particularly for grade 3 cartilage lesions. A tendency to underestimate cartilage disorders on MR images was not noticed.


CONCLUSIONS
According to our results, the use of MRI for precise grading of the cartilage in osteoarthritis is limited. Even if the practical benefit of MRI in pretreatment diagnostics is unequivocal, a diagnostic arthroscopy is of outstanding value when a grading of the cartilage is crucial for a definitive decision regarding therapeutic options in patients with osteoarthritis.
von Engelhardt
Lars V
LV
Department of Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery, HELIOS-Klinikum Wuppertal, Heusnerstr, 40, 42283 Wuppertal, University of Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany. larsvictor@gmx.de
Lahner
Matthias
M
Klussmann
André
A
Bouillon
Bertil
B
Dàvid
Andreas
A
Haage
Patrick
P
Lichtinger
Thomas K
TK
D000328:Adult; D001182:Arthroscopy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002356:Cartilage / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies
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