Longitudinal Femoral Cartilage T2 Relaxation Time and Thickness Changes with Fast Sequential Radiographic Progression of Medial Knee Osteoarthritis-Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI)

Shannon N Edd, Patrick Omoumi, Brigitte M Jolles, Julien Favre, Shannon N Edd, Patrick Omoumi, Brigitte M Jolles, Julien Favre

Abstract

This study tested for longitudinal changes in femoral cartilage T2 relaxation time and thickness in fast-progressing medial femorotibial osteoarthritis (OA). From the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) database, nineteen knees fulfilled the inclusion criteria, which included medial femorotibial OA and sequential progression from Kellgren-Lawrence grade (KL) 1 to KL2 to KL3 within five years. Median T2 value and mean thickness were calculated for six condylar volumes of interest (VOIs; medial/lateral anterior, central, posterior) and six sub-VOIs (medial/lateral anterior external, central, internal). T2 value and thickness changes between severity timepoints were tested using repeated statistics. T2 values increased between KL1 and KL2 and between KL1 and KL3 in the medial compartment (p ≤ 0.02), whereas both increases and decreases were observed between the same timepoints in the lateral compartment (p ≤ 0.02). Cartilage thickness decreased in VOI/subVOIs of the medial compartment from KL1 to KL2 and KL3 (p ≤ 0.014). Cartilage T2 value and thickness changes varied spatially over the femoral condyles. While all T2 changes occurred in the early radiographic stages of OA, thickness changes occurred primarily in the later stages. These data therefore support the use of T2 relaxation time analyses in methods of detecting disease-related change during early OA, a valuable period for therapeutic interventions.

Keywords: cartilage; composition; knee; magnetic resonance imaging; morphology; osteoarthritis; spatial variations; three-dimensional.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Box and whisker plots of superficial cartilage T2 values per VOI (a) and sub-VOI (c) and their respective medial-lateral ratios (b,d). Horizontal bars indicate statistically significant (p < 0.017) changes between severity timepoints (blue: ES > 0.5; green: ES > 0.8).
Figure A2
Figure A2
Box and whisker plots of deep cartilage T2 values per VOI (a) and sub-VOI (c) and their respective medial-lateral ratios (b,d). Horizontal bars indicate statistically significant (p < 0.017) changes between severity timepoints (blue: ES > 0.5; green: ES > 0.8).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of study inclusion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cartilage volumes of interest (VOIs) and sub-VOIs displayed on a representative femur.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Box and whisker plots of cartilage T2 values per VOI (a) and sub-VOI (c) and their respective medial-lateral ratios (b,d). Horizontal bars indicate statistically significant (p < 0.017) changes between severity timepoints (blue: ES > 0.5; green: ES > 0.8).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bar plots (mean ± standard deviation) of cartilage thickness per VOI (a) and sub-VOI (c) and their respective medial-lateral ratios (b,d). Horizontal bars indicate statistically significant (p < 0.017) changes between severity timepoints (blue: ES > 0.5; green: ES > 0.8; black: ES > 1.2).

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