title: Standardized quantitative measurements of wrist cartilage in healthy humans using 3T magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify the wrist cartilage cross-sectional area in humans from a 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset and to assess the corresponding reproducibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in 14 healthy volunteers (6 females and 8 males) between 30 and 58 years old and devoid of articular pain. Subjects were asked to lie down in the supine position with the right hand positioned above the pelvic region on top of a home-built rigid platform attached to the scanner bed. The wrist was wrapped with a flexible surface coil. MRI investigations were performed at 3T (Verio-Siemens) using volume interpolated breath hold examination (VIBE) and dual echo steady state (DESS) MRI sequences. Cartilage cross sectional area (CSA) was measured on a slice of interest selected from a 3D dataset of the entire carpus and metacarpal-phalangeal areas on the basis of anatomical criteria using conventional image processing radiology software. Cartilage cross-sectional areas between opposite bones in the carpal region were manually selected and quantified using a thresholding method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cartilage CSA measurements performed on a selected predefined slice were 292.4 ± 39 mm(2) using the VIBE sequence and slightly lower, 270.4 ± 50.6 mm(2), with the DESS sequence. The inter (14.1%) and intra (2.4%) subject variability was similar for both MRI methods. The coefficients of variation computed for the repeated measurements were also comparable for the VIBE (2.4%) and the DESS (4.8%) sequences. The carpus length averaged over the group was 37.5 ± 2.8 mm with a 7.45% between-subjects coefficient of variation. Of note, wrist cartilage CSA measured with either the VIBE or the DESS sequences was linearly related to the carpal bone length. The variability between subjects was significantly reduced to 8.4% when the CSA was normalized with respect to the carpal bone length.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ratio between wrist cartilage CSA and carpal bone length is a highly reproducible standardized measurement which normalizes the natural diversity between individuals.
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Vincent
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Zink
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Souteyrand
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guis
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chagnaud
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Yann Le
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Fur
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Militianu
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mattei
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rozenbaum
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosner
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guye
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.affiliation: Jean-Vincent Zink, Philippe Souteyrand, Christophe Chagnaud, Department of Radiology, Conception Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, APHM, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bendahan
keywords: Cartilage; Magnetic resonance imaging; Quantification; Wrist