Annamari Herronen1, Eveliina Lammentausta2,
Risto O. Ojala3, Miika T. Nieminen1,2
1Department of Medical
Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; 2Department of
Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital; 3Deaconess
Institute of Oulu
T2 relaxation time mapping is a potential biomarker to follow biochemical changes in articular cartilage in OA progression. Forty-one subjects at risk for OA from the incidence cohort of the Osteoarthritis Initiative were studied at baseline, one-year and two-year follow-up. T2 relaxation time in the medial and lateral weight-bearing compartments of the femur was elevated after one and two years as compared to baseline, while the radiography-based KL-score remained zero at each time-point. The present results are very promising in view of predicting OA in subjects at risk for the disease.