Osteoarthritis Of The Knee Cartilage T2 Mapping Imaging

Objective:①To summarize the characteristics of T2values in healthy knee articular cartilage;②To evaluate T2Mapping of articular cartilage in knee osteoarthritis (OA) based on MRI severity assessment.Materials and Methods:One hundred and forty-nine subjects were assessed with WOMAC Index:77healthy (H) and72OA tibiofemoral articular cartilages categorized into OA1and OA2, based on the modified MR Recht Grading System. T2Mapping was performed to calculate the bulk T2values in10subregions, while FS-3D-FSPGR only in OA to obtain the modified WORMS scores. We compared:①the differences of T2values between H1(20-39years) and H2(40-59years); among H2, OA1and OA2; among subregions and between genders;②correlations of T2values with age, BMI, WORMS scores and WOMAC index respectively;③the intra-observer and inter-observer reproducibility of T2values measurement.Results:T2values of H2were significantly higher than H1(P<0.05, except LFp), the differences of T2values among H2, OA1and OA2in4subregions (MTa, MFc, MTc and LTc) and among subregions within group were significant (P<0.05), but no significance was found between genders. There was positive correlation of T2values with WORMS scores (P<0.01, except LFp), and with age in6subregions of H2(P=0.004-0.015, R=0.376-0.437), but not with BMI nor WOMAC index. The correlation coefficients for intra-observer and inter-observer reproducibility in H and OA (except LTa) were>0.700(P≤0.015).Conclusion:T2Mapping can differentiate the OA severity of knee cartilage assessed by MRI, and is sensitive to monitoring severity.