어깨 관절 연골의 T2 지도

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the T2 value of the articular cartilage of the glenohumeral joint in rotator cuff disease seen on 3.0T MRI and to apply it in clinical practice.

Materials and Methods: Sixty-two patients were included in this study and underwent shoulder MRI containing T2 mapping. The mean T2 value was measured by placing a free hand ROI over the glenoid and humeral cartilage from the bone-cartilage interface to the surface on three consecutive, oblique coronal images. The drawn ROi was automatically divided into a superior segment and an inferior segment. The assessed mean T2 value of the articular cartilage of the glenohumeral joint were compared and evaluated according to the degree of rotator cuff tear, the degree of fatty atrophy of the rotator cuff, and the arcomiohumeral distance.

Results: The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values of mean T2 values from reader 1 and reader 2 showed moderate reproducibility (ICC=0.501) in the glenoid and good reproducibility (ICC=0.721) in the humeral head. The mean T2 values were higher in superior sub-regions than in inferior sub-regions in both glenoid cartilage and humeral head cartilage. The mean T2 value of articular cartilage of the glenoid and humeral head cartilage did not show any significant difference according to the degree of rotator cuff tear. However, the mean T2 values of articular cartilage, according to fatty atrophy, tended to be higher in fatty atrophy 3 or fatty atrophy 4 and some sub-regions showed significantly higher mean T2 values. The acromiohumeral distance and the mean T2 values of the articular cartilage of the glenoid and humeral head ded not show statistical correlation.

Conclusion: T2 mapping of the glenohumeral joint did not show a significant difference in quantitatively assessing the degenerative change of the articular cartilage according to the degree of rotator cuff tear, however, it may provide useful information regarding the degenerative change of cartilage of the glenohymeral joint in patients with rotator cuff tear and severe fatty atrophy of the rotator cuff.