Relationship between trabecular bone structure and articular cartilage morphology and relaxation times in early OA of the knee joint using parallel MRI at 3T

SummaryObjectiveTo evaluate trabecular bone structure in relationship with cartilage parameters in distal femur and proximal tibia of the human knee at 3Tesla (3T) using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with parallel imaging.MethodSixteen healthy controls and 16 patients with mild osteoarthritis (OA) were studied using a 3T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner and an eight-channel phased-array knee coil. Axial 3D GeneRalized Autocalibrating Partially Parallel Acquisition (GRAPPA)-based phase cycled Fast Imaging Employing Steady State Acquisition (FIESTA-c) images were acquired in order to quantify the trabecular bone structure. For assessing cartilage morphology (thickness, volume), sagittal high-resolution 3D spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) images were acquired. In a subset of the subjects, sagittal images were acquired for measuring T1ρ and T2 relaxation times, using 3D T1ρ and T2 mapping techniques.ResultsGood measurement reproducibility was observed for bone parameters, the coefficients of variations (CVs) ranging from 1.8% for trabecular number (app. Tb.N) to 5.5% for trabecular separation (app. Tb.Sp). Significant differences between control and OA groups were found for bone volume fraction bone volume over total volume (app. BV/TV) and app. Tb.Sp in all compartments. Significantly increased values in T1ρ and T2 were demonstrated in OA patients compared with controls at the femur, but not at the tibia. T1ρ was negatively correlated with app. BV/TV, app. Tb.N and app. Tb.Sp both at the medial femoral condyle (MFC) and lateral tibia (LT), while T2 was only correlated at the LT. Also, medial tibia (MT) T1ρ was negatively correlated with app. BV/TV (R2=−0.49, P<0.05) and app. Tb.N (R2=−0.42, P