Differences Between X-Ray and MRI-Determined Knee Cartilage Thickness in Weight-Bearing and Non-Weight-Bearing Conditions

Megan Nicole Marsh¹, Richard Souza¹, Brad Wyman², Marie-Pierre Hellio le Graverand², Thomas M. Link¹, Sharmila Majumdar¹

This study investigated the efficacy of X-ray and MRI in determining cartilage thickness in patients with and without osteoarthritis in both loaded and unloaded conditions. The study found that MRI-measured cartilage thickness and X-ray-determined minimum joint space width are more strongly correlated when both conditions are loaded, with MRI having a higher standardized response mean from loaded to unloaded than X-ray. This contradicts past studies, which showed that X-ray has a higher standardized response mean, and indicates that loading causes cartilage deformation that is important for comparing information gathered by X-ray and MRI about joint space narrowing in OA-damaged cartilage.