Quantitative measures of the medial and lateral novel meniscus parameters predict incident radiographic knee osteoarthritis: the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Abstract

Abstract Background: To determine whether novel meniscus parameters are predictive of incident radiographic knee osteoarthritis (ROA) over four years in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) study. Methods: Participants were extracted from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) study. 178 knees (from 176 patients ) with incident ROA (Kellgren Lawrence Grade (KLG) 0 or 1 at baseline (BL), developing KLG 2 or greater by year 4) were matched one-to-one by gender, age and radiographic status with 178 control knees (from 178 patients) not developing incident ROA. Novel meniscal parameters were measured on coronal T2-weighted turbo spin echo (TSE) MRI. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to assess the risk of incident ROAassociated with novel meniscus parameters after adjustment for covariates. Sensitivity analysis was performed for P0 (time to visit when ROA was found on the radiographs) , P1 (1 year prior to P0) and baseline (enrollment period) ROA incidence. Results: Intra-class and inter-class reliabilities of measurement of novel parameters were excellent (≥0.89). Baseline meniscus measurement parameters included the mean of MLD [mean(MLD)], the mean of RMLD [mean(RMLD)] and the mean of TPW[Mean(TPW)]. Baseline Mean(MLD) and Mean(RMLD) [Mean(MLD), Mean(RMLD)] [Adjusted OR, 95%CI: 1.11(1.07 to 1.16) and 1.13(1.09 to 1.17), respectively] were associated with incident ROA during 4 years, but mean value of tibial plateau width [Mean(TPW)] [Adjusted OR, 95%CI: 0.98(0.94 to 1.02)] was not associated with incident ROA during 4 years. At baseline, Mean (MLD) and Mean (RMLD) were significantly different between case and control groups. While P1 and P0 [Mean(TPW)] were not associated with incident ROA risk, other measures of P1 and P0 were significantly positivelyassociated with incident ROA risk. Conclusions: The novel method of measuring meniscus novel parameters on MRI is reproducible. Compared with the control group, Mean(MLD) and Mean(RMLD) at baseline, P1 and P0 periods are higher in the case group than in the control group and the measurement differed significantly among the groups. These novel meniscus parameters alterations could be an important imaging biomarker to predict the occurrence of ROA.