Christoph Stehling1,2, Benedikt J. Schwaiger1,
Christina Mueller-Hoecker1, Roland Krug1, Daniel Kuo1,
Nancy E. Lane3, Michael C. Nevitt4, John Lynch4,
Charles E. McCulloch4, Thomas M. Link1
1Department of Radiology and Biomedical
Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United
States; 2Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster,
Muenster, Germany; 3Center for Healthy Aging, University of
California Davis, Sacramento, United States; 4Department of
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San
Francisco, CA, United States
The
aim was to study association of knee cartilage abnormalities and T2-relaxation-time-measurements
at baseline and 24 months, using 3T MRI and physical activity levels obtained
in 182 asymptomatic subjects aged 45-55 years from the Osteoarthritis
Initiative. Cartilage T2 increased significantly over time. Subjects with
cartilage abnormalities and higher physical activity had higher T2 at
baseline and follow-up and higher increase in T2 over time compared to more
sedentary subjects. Interestingly cartilage lesions and higher physical
activity induced accelerated cartilage-matrix changes. These results suggest
that T2 mapping may be an useful quantitative parameters to assess
longitudinal changes in early OA.