T1ρ-mapping for assessing knee joint cartilage in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis — feasibility and repeatability

Abstract

Background Ongoing arthritis in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can result in cartilage damage. Objective To study the feasibility and repeatability of T 1ρ for assessing knee cartilage in JIA and also to describe T 1ρ values and study correlation between T 1ρ and conventional MRI scores for disease activity. Materials and methods Thirteen children with JIA or suspected JIA underwent 3-tesla (T) knee MRI that included conventional sequences and a T 1ρ sequence. Segmentation of knee cartilage was carried out on T 1ρ images. We used intraclass correlation coefficient to study the repeatability of segmentation in a subset of five children. We used the juvenile arthritis MRI scoring system to discriminate inflamed from non-inflamed knees. The Mann-Whitney U and Spearman correlation compared T 1ρ between children with and without arthritis on MRI and correlated T 1ρ with the juvenile arthritis MRI score. Results All children successfully completed the MRI examination. No images were excluded because of poor quality. Repeatability of T 1ρ measurement had an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.99 (P<0.001). We observed no structural cartilage damage and found no differences in T 1ρ between children with (n=7) and without (n=6) inflamed knees (37.8 ms vs. 31.7 ms, P=0.20). However, we observed a moderate correlation between T 1ρ values and the juvenile arthritis MRI synovitis score (r=0.59, P=0.04). Conclusion This pilot study suggests that T 1ρ is a feasible and repeatable quantitative imaging technique in children. T 1ρ values were associated with the juvenile arthritis MRI synovitis score.

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“…The authors proposed the replacement of contrast-enhanced sequences with DWI [36]. Advanced quantitative MRI techniques, such as T2-mapping and T1 rho mapping, might play an important role in the future for the evaluation of inflammatory changes in the knee, but these sequences are not yet part of routine imaging [42]. These might also contribute to reliable imaging of JIA without contrast agents.…”

Prevalence and Severity of Juvenile Osteochondritis Dissecans in Patients With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

“…9 , 17 Prior reports also suggest that cartilage thinning is evident in JIA. 1 , 18 , 22 It is unclear what predisposes patients with JIA to thinning of the cartilage, as this was not dependent on disease duration; however, a synergistic effect between the processes of chronic inflammation and thinning of cartilage may be hypothesized. 18 , 22 Chronic injury to articular cartilage due to ongoing or intermittent inflammation may predispose patients with JIA to the higher incidence of OCD, as thinned cartilage may be less resistant to minor trauma, ischemia, or abnormal joint mechanics.…”

Review of Synthetic and Hybrid Scaffolds in Cartilage Tissue Engineering

“…This autoimmune disease is a chronic inflammatory process that damages the articular cartilage, induces bone epiphysis, and is responsible for extra-articular symptoms and systemic complications. This disease can occur at any stage of developmental age and its very wide symptomatology creates diagnostic problems, especially in the initial stages of the disease development [ 29 , 32 ]. The most common disease connected with articular cartilage defects is osteoarthritis (OA).…”