J Korean Rheum Assoc.  1999 Jun;6(2):117-124.

A comparison of Bone SPECT, MRI, and Arthroscopy for the Evaluation of Chronic Knee Pain

• Chang HK
• Won KS
• Kim NH
• Choi YJ
• Yoo DH
• Kim SY

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to evaluate the value of bone single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT), simply radiography, magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), and arthroscopy to see the severity of osteoarthritis(OA) and the meniscal tear in patients with chronic knee pain. METHOD: Total 25 patients who had chronic knee pain and suspected meniscal tear during the period from May 1997 through June 1998 were included in the study. The simple radiography, bone SPECT and MRI were performed in all 25 patients. The arthroscopy was done in 17 patients and arthroplasty in four. In order to see the severity of OA, the arbitrary grading was done by SPECT, and kellgren-Lawrence grading by simple radiography and Outerbridge grading by arthroscopy were used.
RESULTS
In 21 patients, bone SPECT and MRI with either arthroscopy or arthroplasty were done. Among the seventeen of these 21 patients who had a meniscal tear either by arthroscopy or arthroplasty, the meniscal tears were found in 15 patients by SPECT, and 14 patients by MRI. Spearman rank correlation coefficient between SPECT grading and arthroscopic grading was 0.814, and the coefficient between simple radiographic grading and arthroscopid grading was 0.360.
CONCLUSION
The bone SPECT of the knee seems to be more cost-effective in comparison to MRI and arthroscopy to see the severity of OA and the meniscal tear in patients who has chronic knee pain.

Keyword

Chronic knee pain; Severity of osteoarthritis; Meniscal tear; Bone SPECT

MeSH Terms

Arthroplasty
Arthroscopy*
Humans
Knee*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Radiography
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*