T2* measurement of the knee articular cartilage in osteoarthritis at 3T.
OBJECTIVE
To measure reproducibility, longitudinal and cross-sectional differences in T2* maps at 3 Tesla (T) in the articular cartilage of the knee in subjects with osteoarthritis (OA) and healthy matched controls.


METHODS
MRI data and standing radiographs were acquired from 33 subjects with OA and 21 healthy controls matched for age and gender. Reproducibility was determined by two sessions in the same day, while longitudinal and cross-sectional group differences used visits at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Each visit contained symptomological assessments and an MRI session consisting of high resolution three-dimensional double-echo-steady-state (DESS) and co-registered T2* maps of the most diseased knee. A blinded reader delineated the articular cartilage on the DESS images and median T2* values were reported.


RESULTS
T2* values showed an intra-visit reproducibility of 2.0% over the whole cartilage. No longitudinal effects were measured in either group over 6 months. T2* maps revealed a 5.8% longer T2* in the medial tibial cartilage and 7.6% and 6.5% shorter T2* in the patellar and lateral tibial cartilage, respectively, in OA subjects versus controls (P < 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
T2* mapping is a repeatable process that showed differences between the OA subject and control groups.
GSK Clinical Imaging Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. rexford.newbould@gmail.com
Rexford D
RD
Newbould
Sam R
SR
Miller
Laurence D
LD
Toms
Peter
P
Swann
Jeroen A W
JA
Tielbeek
Garry E
GE
Gold
Robin K
RK
Strachan
Peter C
PC
Taylor
Paul M
PM
Matthews
Andrew P
AP
Brown
D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity