Sabiston C P, Adams M E, Li D K
J Orthop Res. 1987;5(2):164-72. doi: 10.1002/jor.1100050203.
Conventional radiography has several limitations in the study of osteoarthritis (OA): changes occur late, they are restricted to bone, and they do not correlate well with the patient's symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can visualize with great detail the soft tissue changes in and around joints. We have obtained MR images of knees using an experimental model of OA in order to study the early changes of OA, to correlate the images with the gross pathology, and to compare MR images with radiographs. The changes on MRI correlated with the gross pathological changes as assessed by Kendall's rank correlation test as follows: meniscal changes, tau = 0.58 (p less than 0.01); osteophytes, tau = 0.59 (p less than 0.05); capsular fibrosis, tau = 0.55 (p less than 0.05); and overall, tau = 0.68 (p less than 0.001). Abnormalities were evident on MRI as early as 4 weeks after the onset of the disease, which is 8 weeks before they appear on radiographs. Thus, MRI can show changes in OA earlier than radiography can, and the images correlate with the gross pathology.
传统放射成像在骨关节炎（OA）研究中有若干局限性：变化出现较晚，局限于骨骼，且与患者症状的相关性不佳。磁共振成像（MRI）能够极为详细地显示关节内及周围的软组织变化。我们利用OA实验模型获取了膝关节的MR图像，以研究OA的早期变化，将图像与大体病理学进行关联，并将MR图像与X线片进行比较。通过肯德尔等级相关检验评估，MRI上的变化与大体病理变化的相关性如下：半月板变化，tau = 0.58（p < 0.01）；骨赘，tau = 0.59（p < 0.05）；关节囊纤维化，tau = 0.55（p < 0.05）；总体而言，tau = 0.68（p < 0.001）。疾病发作后4周，MRI上就出现了异常，这比X线片上出现异常早8周。因此，MRI能够比放射成像更早地显示OA的变化，且图像与大体病理学相关。
