title: 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 T1ρ values of the femorotibial cartilage and menisci in patients with mild (Kellgren-Lawrence grade 1) to moderate (KL3) osteoarthritis (OA) at 3T.
  
  
  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 T1ρ 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) T1ρ values than all cartilage subregions in valgus group. Medial tibial central cartilage subregion had significantly higher T1ρ 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 T1ρ values (p<0.0029) than all meniscus subregions in valgus group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There exists some degree of association between knee alignment and subregional T1ρ values of femorotibial cartilage and menisci in patients with clinical OA.
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Multinuclear Musculoskeletal Imaging Group (QMMIG), Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA; School of Radiation Medicine and Protection, Medical College of Soochow University; School for Radiological and interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China. Electronic address: ligong.wang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ligong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Renata La Rocca
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Leon D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Rybak
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Babb
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krasnokutsky
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abramson
authors.forename: Ravinder
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Regatte
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Knee alignment; Knee joint; MRI; Meniscus; Osteoarthritis