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MRI shows greater BMD near bone marrow lesions in patients with OA
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Using MRI, researchers found significantly increased bone mineral density at bone marrow lesion locations in patients with knee osteoarthritis, according to this study.
“Bone marrow lesions in the knee are associated with pain and compartment-specific joint space narrowing,” the researchers, who are from Germany and France, wrote in the study. “However, the correlation of bone marrow lesions with bone mineral density has rarely been investigated. The aim of the present study was to examine whether bone mineral density in bone marrow lesions is altered compared to the surrounding bone.”
The researchers identified 34 bone marrow lesions in 26 patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) with a Kellgren-Lawrence grade of 2 or 3. They used single-energy CT to analyze bone mineral density (BMD) and 3-D segmentation and registration methods to determine bone marrow lesion volumes of interest (VOI) in the surrounding bone. The researchers then transferred those VOIs to 19 controls that did not have bone marrow lesions using an elastic registration and repeated the bone mineral density test.
In addition, the researchers simulated how fat-water composition changed as bone marrow lesions developed in the patients. Even with a 39% fat-to-water conversion rate, there was significantly higher bone mineral density in the knee OA patients with bone marrow lesions and researchers noted a higher medial to lateral bone mineral density ratio in patients who had medial bone marrow lesions, according to the abstract.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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