A pilot, two-year longitudinal study of the interrelationship between trabecular bone and articular cartilage in the osteoarthritic knee

SummaryObjectiveTo examine the relationship between structural changes of trabecular bone and cartilage, in patients with varying degrees of osteoarthritis (OA) over 2 years, using magnetic resonance imaging.MethodsHigh-resolution, axial images were acquired for assessing trabecular bone structure, using a 3-D fast gradient-echo sequence. High-resolution, fat-suppressed, sagittal images were acquired for assessing cartilage structure, using a 3-D spoiled gradient-echo sequence. In a subset of the patients, sagittal images were acquired for measuring T2 relaxation time, using a 2-D dual-echo spin echo sequence.ResultsA large variation in bone and cartilage parameters is evident among individual subjects in each group, however, group-specific means demonstrate decreasing trends (in bone and cartilage parameters) in osteoarthritic subjects (especially in mild OA subjects). The mean T2 increased significantly (P