Quantitative T2* MRI study of knee articular cartilage of amateur marathon runners after running a half marathon / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To study the effects of half marathon loading on the T2* mapping assessment of knee joint cartilage.@*Methods@#Twenty male amateur marathon runners with more than three years of running age were enrolled. The T1WI, PDWI, 3D-DESS, and T2* mapping were performed on right knee joint before and after the half marathon within 3h and after a period of approximately 1 week. Cartilage was divided into 6 regions medial and lateral femoral cartilage, medial and lateral tibial cartilage and patella and trochlea cartilage. Femoral cartilage was partitioned into central weight-bearing regions, posterior cartilage nonweight-bearing regions with the posterior boundary of the meniscus as the dividing mark. All cartilage was further divided into deep and superficial layers according to the thickness 1/2, and the ROI was delineated to obtain the T2* value of the corresponding area. One-way repeated measures analysis was performed to test the difference of T2* values pre- and post-marathon. LSD tests were used to estimate the different influences of physiological activities on each articular cartilage area.@*Results@#All cartilage areas of the knee joint did not show cartilage injury during the examination. The differences in the global T2* values of the superficial layers of the knee cartilage before and after the half-marathon marathon were statistically significant (t=5.145, P<0.05), but the global T2* value of the deep region were not (t=1.864, P>0.05). After a week, the T2* values of all cartilage areas were not statistically different from those before running (t=1.062, 0.309; P>0.05).@*Conclusion@#After a single half marathon, the changes of knee cartilage composition in male amateur marathon runners are reversible. In the absence of positive findings in conventional MRI, T2* mapping can indirectly reflect changes in biochemical composition of the articular cartilage during exercise.