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Papers of the Week


2021 Feb 04


Acta Orthop

T2 relaxation times of knee cartilage in 109 patients with knee pain and its association with disease characteristics.

Authors

Verschueren J, Van Langeveld SJ, Dragoo JL, Bierma-Zeinstra SMA, Reijman M, Gold GE, Oei EHG
Acta Orthop. 2021 Feb 04:1-6.
PMID: 33538221.

Abstract

Background and purpose – Quantitative T2 mapping MRI of cartilage has proven value for the assessment of early osteoarthritis changes in research. We evaluated knee cartilage T2 relaxation times in a clinical population with knee complaints and its association with patients and disease characteristics and clinical symptoms. Patients and methods – In this cross-sectional study, T2 mapping knee scans of 109 patients with knee pain who were referred for an MRI by an orthopedic surgeon were collected. T2 relaxation times were calculated in 6 femoral and tibial regions of interest of full-thickness tibiofemoral cartilage. Its associations with age, sex, BMI, duration of complaints, disease onset (acute/chronic), and clinical symptoms were assessed with multivariate regression analysis. Subgroups were created of patients with abnormalities expected to cause predominantly medial or lateral tibiofemoral cartilage changes. Results – T2 relaxation times increased statistically significantly with higher age and BMI. In patients with expected medial cartilage damage, the medial femoral T2 values were significantly higher than the lateral; in patients with expected lateral cartilage damage the lateral tibial T2 values were significantly higher. A traumatic onset of knee complaints was associated with an acute elevation. No significant association was found with clinical symptoms. Interpretation – Our study demonstrates age, BMI, and type of injury-dependent T2 relaxation times and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging these variations when performing T2 mapping in a clinical population.