Longitudinal assessment of mechanical strength of trabecular bone underlying bone marrow lesions following acute anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
Date
2019-06-17
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Abstract
Anterior cruciate ligament tears are common injuries that are often accompanied by traumatic bone marrow lesions (BML) that occur in the knee. These lesions may be linked to osteoarthritis and by understanding the indication of a bone marrow lesion, we can move towards better understanding the causes of osteoarthritis. This study explores the strength of bone within BMLs using micro-finite element modeling based on MRI and HR-pQCT images throughout an 8- month period following an ACL tear. In the BML region in the injured knee, the bone strength decreased by 20.1% (P<0.001) at ~175 days post injury relative to the corresponding region on the contralateral knee followed by a semi-recovery period. Bone strength in the reference region surrounding the BML decreased by 15.3% (P=0.002) at ~142 days post injury relative to the contralateral reference region, and 15.3% (P=0.003) at ~146 days post injury in the full injured femoral condyle relative to the contralateral condyle, followed by a gradual recovery. However, the bone in the BML region experienced accelerated loss in bone strength relative to the surrounding bone and the contralateral knee and did not fully recover. This may be indicative of long-term or potentially permanent changes in bone strength that when weakened, provides less support for articular cartilage and can lead to damage or degeneration, and further progression to osteoarthritis.
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Finite element analysis, Osteoarthritis, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Bone marrow lesion, High resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Biomechanics
Citation
Shtil, M. (2019). Longitudinal assessment of mechanical strength of trabecular bone underlying bone marrow lesions following acute anterior cruciate ligament injuries (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.