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Micro- and Macroscale Assessment of Posterior Cruciate Ligament Functionality Based on Advanced MRI Techniques

Authors :
Wilms, Lena Marie
Radke, Karl Ludger
Abrar, Daniel Benjamin
Latz, David
Schock, Justus
Frenken, Miriam
Windolf, Joachim
Antoch, Gerald
Filler, Timm Joachim
Nebelung, Sven
Source :
Diagnostics, Vol 11, Iss 1790, p 1790 (2021), Diagnostics
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

T2 mapping assesses tissue ultrastructure and composition, yet the association of imaging features and tissue functionality is oftentimes unclear. This study aimed to elucidate this association for the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) across the micro- and macroscale and as a function of loading. Ten human cadaveric knee joints were imaged using a clinical 3.0T scanner and high-resolution morphologic and T2 mapping sequences. Emulating the posterior drawer test, the joints were imaged in the unloaded (δ0) and loaded (δ1) configurations. For the entire PCL, its subregions, and its osseous insertion sites, loading-induced changes were parameterized as summary statistics and texture variables, i.e., entropy, homogeneity, contrast, and variance. Histology confirmed structural integrity. Statistical analysis was based on parametric and non-parametric tests. Mean PCL length (37.8 ± 1.8 mm [δ0]; 44.0 ± 1.6 mm [δ1] [p < 0.01]), mean T2 (35.5 ± 2.0 ms [δ0]; 37.9 ± 1.3 ms [δ1] [p = 0.01]), and mean contrast values (4.0 ± 0.6 [δ0]; 4.9 ± 0.9 [δ1] [p = 0.01]) increased significantly under loading. Other texture features or ligamentous, osseous, and meniscal structures remained unaltered. Beyond providing normative T2 values across various scales and configurations, this study suggests that ligaments can be imaged morphologically and functionally based on joint loading and advanced MRI acquisition and post-processing techniques to assess ligament integrity and functionality in variable diagnostic contexts.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20754418
Volume :
11
Issue :
1790
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Diagnostics
Accession number :
edsair.pmid.dedup....1af6c5313df8f9bcca7824405273b883