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Meniscal pathologies on MRI correlate with increased bone tracer uptake in SPECT/CT

  • Musculoskeletal
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objectives

To assess the relationship of subchondral bone tracer uptake (BTU) on SPECT/CT and meniscal pathologies on MRI in patients with painful knees.

Methods

Twenty-five patients who had MRI and SPECT/CT within 3 months without knee surgery or grade ≥3 cartilage lesions were prospectively included. Maximum values of each subchondral femorotibial area were quantified and a ratio was calculated in relation to a femoral shaft reference region, which represented the BTU background activity. Meniscal lesions were graded (intact/degeneration/tear) and meniscal extrusion (no/yes) was assessed using MRI by two musculoskeletal radiologists blinded to the SPECT/CT findings. One-tailed Spearman correlations served for statistics (p < 0.05).

Results

Knees with meniscal degeneration or tear showed a significantly higher BTU in the medial femorotibial compartment (p = 0.045) when compared to intact menisci. Meniscal degeneration was associated with an increased BTU in the lateral femorotibial compartment; however, this was not statistically significant (p = 0.143). Patients with an extruded meniscus showed significantly higher BTU compared to a non-extruded meniscus (p < 0.020).

Conclusions

Medial femorotibial BTU in SPECT/CT was associated with meniscal pathologies. Highest BTU was found in patients with meniscal tears. SPECT/CT appears to be a useful imaging modality to identify patients with overloading or early osteoarthritis.

Key Points

• Meniscal degeneration and tears correlate significantly with increased BTU using SPECT/CT.

• Medial meniscus extrusion is associated with an increased BTU in SPECT/CT.

• SPECT/CT allows detection of overloading and early osteoarthritis.

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Abbreviations

BTU:

Bone tracer uptake

ICC:

Intraclass correlation coefficient

OA:

Osteoarthritis

SPECT:

Single photon emission computerised tomography

CT:

Computerised tomography

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

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Funding

The authors state that this work has not received any funding.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jan Rechsteiner and Michael T. Hirschmann contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Kantonsspital Baselland Bruderholz, 4101, Binningen, Switzerland

    Jan Rechsteiner, Michael T. Hirschmann, Milos Dordevic & Enrique A. Testa

  2. Department of Radiology, Kantonsspital Baselland Bruderholz, 4101, Binningen, Switzerland

    Anna L. Falkowski

  3. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, 4031, Basel, Switzerland

    Anna L. Falkowski & Anna Hirschmann

  4. Amsler Consulting, Gundeldingerrain 111, 4059, Basel, Switzerland

    Felix Amsler

Authors
  1. Jan Rechsteiner
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  2. Michael T. Hirschmann
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  3. Milos Dordevic
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  4. Anna L. Falkowski
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  5. Enrique A. Testa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Hirschmann.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Michael Hirschmann.

Conflict of interest

The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Statistics and biometry

Felix Amsler kindly provided statistical advice for this manuscript.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board (EK 228/13).

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained (EK 228/13).

Study subjects or cohorts overlap

Some study subjects or cohorts have been previously reported in Dordevic et al. [9].

Methodology

• prospective

• diagnostic study

• performed at one institution

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Rechsteiner, J., Hirschmann, M.T., Dordevic, M. et al. Meniscal pathologies on MRI correlate with increased bone tracer uptake in SPECT/CT. Eur Radiol 28, 4696–4704 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5466-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5466-3

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