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Skeletal Radiology
Published in: Skeletal Radiology 1/2011

01-01-2011 | Technical Report

Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of weight-bearing subchondral trabecular bone in the knee

Authors: Erika Schneider, Grace H. Lo, Gretchen Sloane, Lynn Fanella, David J. Hunter, Charles B. Eaton, Timothy E. McAlindon

Published in: Skeletal Radiology | Issue 1/2011

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Abstract

Objective

Changes in weight-bearing subchondral bone are central to osteoarthritis (OA) pathophysiology. Using MR, knee trabecular bone is typically assessed in the axial plane, however partial volume artifacts limit the utility of MR methods for femorotibial compartment subchondral bone analysis. Oblique-coronal acquisitions may enable direct visualization and quantification of the expected increases in femorotibial subchondral trabecular bone.

Methods

MR acquisition parameters were first optimized at 3 Tesla. Thereafter, five volunteers underwent axial and coronal exams of their right knee. Each image series was evaluated visually and quantitatively. An anatomically standardized region-of-interest was placed on both the medial and lateral tibial plateaus of all coronal slices containing subchondral bone. Mean and maximum marrow signal was measured, and “bone signal” was calculated.

Results

The MR acquisition had spatial resolution 0.2 × 0.2 × 1.0 mm and acquisition time 10.5 min. The two asymptomatic knees exhibited prominent horizontal trabeculae in the tibial subchondral bone, while the one confirmed OA knee had disorganized subchondral bone and absent horizontal trabeculae. The subchondral bone signal was 8–14% higher in both compartments of the OA knee than the asymptomatic knees.

Conclusion

The weight-bearing femorotibial subchondral trabecular bone can be directly visualized and changes quantified in the coronal-oblique plane. Qualitative and quantitative assessments can be performed using the resultant images and may provide a method to discriminate between the healthy and OA knees. These methods should enable a quantitative evaluation of the role of weight-bearing subchondral bone in the natural history of knee OA to be undertaken.
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Metadata
Title
Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of weight-bearing subchondral trabecular bone in the knee
Authors
Erika Schneider
Grace H. Lo
Gretchen Sloane
Lynn Fanella
David J. Hunter
Charles B. Eaton
Timothy E. McAlindon
Publication date
01-01-2011
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Skeletal Radiology / Issue 1/2011
Print ISSN: 0364-2348
Electronic ISSN: 1432-2161
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-010-0943-z

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