Longitudinal analysis of MR spin–spin relaxation times (T2) in medial femorotibial cartilage of adolescent vs mature athletes: dependence of deep and superficial zone properties on sex and age

Summary Objective Cartilage spin–spin magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxation time (T2) represents a promising imaging biomarker of “early” osteoarthritis (OA) known to be associated with cartilage composition (collagen integrity, orientation, and hydration). However, no longitudinal imaging stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Osteoarthritis and cartilage 2014-10, Vol.22 (10), p.1554-1558
Main Authors: Wirth, W, Eckstein, F, Boeth, H, Diederichs, G, Hudelmaier, M, Duda, G.N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescent Development
Adult
Age Factors
Athletes
Cartilage
Cartilage, Articular - anatomy & histology
Cartilage, Articular - growth & development
Collagen
Development
Female
Femur - anatomy & histology
Femur - growth & development
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Knee
Knee Joint - anatomy & histology
Knee Joint - growth & development
Longitudinal Studies
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Maturation
Middle Aged
Pilot Projects
Rheumatology
Sex Factors
Spin–spin (T2) relaxation time
Tibia - anatomy & histology
Tibia - growth & development
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Summary:Summary Objective Cartilage spin–spin magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxation time (T2) represents a promising imaging biomarker of “early” osteoarthritis (OA) known to be associated with cartilage composition (collagen integrity, orientation, and hydration). However, no longitudinal imaging studies have been conducted to examine cartilage maturation in healthy subjects thus far. Therefore, we explore T2 change in the deep and superficial cartilage layers at the end of adolescence. Methods Twenty adolescent and 20 mature volleyball athletes were studied (each 10 men and 10 women). Multi-echo spin-echo (MESE) images were acquired at baseline and 2-year follow-up. After segmentation, cartilage T2 was calculated in the deep and superficial cartilage layers of the medial tibial (MT) and the central, weight-bearing part of the medial femoral condyle (cMF), using five echoes (TE 19.4–58.2 ms). Results 16 adolescent (6 men, 10 women, baseline age 15.8 ± 0.5 years) and 17 mature (nine men, eight women, age 46.5 ± 5.2 years) athletes had complete baseline and follow-up images of sufficient quality to compute T2. In adolescents, a longitudinal decrease in T2 was observed in the deep layers of MT (−2.0 ms; 95% confidence interval (CI): [−3.4, −0.6] ms; P  
ISSN:1063-4584
1522-9653
DOI:10.1016/j.joca.2014.06.003