title: 7T MRI detects deterioration in subchondral bone microarchitecture in subjects with mild knee osteoarthritis as compared with healthy controls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how subchondral bone microarchitecture is altered in patients with mild knee osteoarthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study had Institutional Review Board approval. We recruited 24 subjects with mild radiographic knee osteoarthritis and 16 healthy controls. The distal femur was scanned at 7T using a high-resolution 3D FLASH sequence. We applied digital topological analysis to assess bone volume fraction, markers of trabecular number (skeleton density), trabecular network osteoclastic resorption (erosion index), plate-like structure (surface), rod-like structure (curve), and plate-to-rod ratio (surface-curve ratio). We used two-tailed t-tests to compare differences between osteoarthritis subjects and controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detected deterioration in subchondral bone microarchitecture in both medial and lateral femoral condyles in osteoarthritis subjects as compared with controls. This was manifested by lower bone volume fraction (-1.03% to -5.43%, P < 0.04), higher erosion index (+8.49 to +22.76%, P < 0.04), lower surface number (-2.31% to -9.63%, P < 0.007), higher curve number (+6.85% to +16.93%, P < 0.03), and lower plate-to-rod ratio (-7.92% to -21.71%, P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results provide further support for the concept that poor subchondral bone quality is associated with osteoarthritis and may serve as a potential therapeutic target for osteoarthritis interventions. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:1311-1317. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors: Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, Center for Musculoskeletal Care, New York, New York, USA; Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Gregory
authors: G
authors: Chang
authors: Ding
authors: D
authors: Xia
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Chen
authors: Guillaume
authors: G
authors: Madelin
authors: Steven B
authors: SB
authors: Abramson
authors: James S
authors: JS
authors: Babb
authors: Punam K
authors: PK
authors: Saha
authors: Ravinder R
authors: RR
authors: Regatte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000473:pathology*; 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; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: 7T; bone microarchitecture; knee; osteoarthritis