Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Acta Radiol. 2021 Feb;62(2):215-224. doi: 10.1177/0284185120918807. Epub 2020 Apr 27.
There is currently a lack of imaging modalities that can be used as a sensitive measure in tendinopathy. Recent findings suggest the applicability of ultra-short echo time (UTE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* mapping in tendons, but the reproducibility remains unknown.
To evaluate test-retest reproducibility of UTE MRI T2* mapping of tendinopathic patellar tendons and to evaluate the intra- and inter-observer reproducibility of the measurement.
Fifteen patients with chronic patellar tendinopathy were evaluated with UTE MRI twice in a 3.0-T scanner on the same day. Manual segmentation of the patellar tendon was performed by two blinded investigators and automated T2*map reconstruction was performed in custom-made software.
There was a significant and numerically small difference in test-retest T2* values (T2mean = 0.06 ± 0.07 ms ≈ 3.7%; = 0.006) with an ICC = 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.98; typical error of 3.0%). The intra- and inter-observer reproducibility showed no significant bias ( = 0.493 and = 0.052), and generally substantial reproducibility was demonstrated for T2 (intra-observer ICC = 0.99; 95% CI 0.98-1.00 and inter-observer ICC = 0.99; 95% CI 0.96-1.00, and typical error 1.3% and 1.3%, respectively).
These data demonstrate a small bias between repeated measurements for UTE T2*, but with a very low associated mean difference (3.7%) between the two tests. The high ICC values and low typical error % demonstrate reproducibility of repeated T2*-mapping sessions. Further, the method showed substantial intra- and inter-observer reproducibility for T2* values proving feasibility for use of UTE T2* mapping in research and clinical practice.
目前，尚无可用于肌腱病的敏感测量的成像方式。最近的研究结果表明，超短回波时间（UTE）磁共振成像（MRI）T2*映射在肌腱中的适用性，但重复性尚不清楚。
评估 UTE MRI T2* 图在患有慢性髌腱病的髌腱中的重复性，并评估测量的观察者内和观察者间的可重复性。
在 3.0-T 扫描仪上，15 例慢性髌腱病患者在同一天内接受了两次 UTE MRI 检查。两名盲法研究者对髌腱进行手动分割，并在定制软件中进行自动 T2*图重建。
两次测试的 T2* 值有显著的、数值较小的差异（T2均值=0.06±0.07 ms≈3.7%；P=0.006），ICC=0.91（95%置信区间[CI]0.58-0.98；典型误差为 3.0%）。观察者内和观察者间的可重复性没有明显的偏差（P=0.493 和 P=0.052），并且 T2 的可重复性通常较高（观察者内 ICC=0.99；95%CI 0.98-1.00 和观察者间 ICC=0.99；95%CI 0.96-1.00，典型误差分别为 1.3%和 1.3%）。
这些数据表明，UTE T2* 的重复测量之间存在较小的偏差，但两次测试之间的平均差异（3.7%）非常低。高 ICC 值和低典型误差%表明重复 T2*-映射测试的可重复性。此外，该方法对 T2值的观察者内和观察者间的可重复性较高，证明 UTE T2 图在研究和临床实践中的应用是可行的。
