The Possibilities of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Diagnosis of Microstructural Changes of the Subchondral Bone in Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Background. Magnetic resonance imaging not only has powerful capabilities for visualization, but is also of interest in terms of obtaining ideas about microstructural and biochemical changes in the tissues of the joints in osteoarthritis. Aims. To assess the possibility of T2-images of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of microstructural changes in the subchondral bone in osteoarthritis. Materials and methods. 62 patients with osteoarthritis and 8 volunteers without osteoarthritis were examined. All patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging of knee. To assess the variability of transverse relaxation time, the T2-images segmentation of the subchondral segmentation in the frontal projection was performed by hand. The proton density was estimated from a 3D histogram on a scale of 0 to 255. Results. At the first stage of osteoarthritis, the intensity of the magnetic resonance signal decreases over the entire surface of the tibial plateau, with minimal values in the region of the medial part of the knee joint. At stage 2 osteoarthritis, there was an even greater decrease in the number of protons that made the phase transition with the lowest value in the medial region. The subchondral bone texture in stage 3 was characterized by a significant decrease in signal intensity in the region of the medial plateau of the tibia. In the terminal stage of osteoarthritis. Conclusion. The revealed regularity of the change in the relaxation time spectrum of T2-images reflects the degenerative process in subchondral bone with osteoarthritis.

Keywords

• osteoarthritis
• subchondral bone
• articular cartilage
• mri
• remodeling