Rapid MRI Method of Assessing Joint Degeneration

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然医疗保健的进步延长了美国人的寿命，但这些进步也意味着几乎所有的美国人在生命的某个阶段都会面临骨关节炎（OA）的衰弱影响。在开发成功的OA治疗剂方面缺乏进展，迫使研究这种退行性过程的新方法。这些新方法认识到，不仅要研究关节软骨，还要研究OA患者所有关节结构之间的相互作用。在纵向研究方面的投资，如美国国立卫生研究院支持的骨关节炎倡议，旨在开发多方面的数据库，以跟踪OA在大量受试者人群中的进展，希望这些数据将有助于开发和测试揭示疾病的新假设。磁共振（MR）成像方法在骨关节炎等骨性关节炎的纵向研究中作为疾病进展的重要替代生物标志物。然而，由于成本和患者耐受性的限制，OA研究中的MR检查时间通常限制在30 - 45分钟。评估所有关节结构的需要，被称为“全器官”关节评估，这是大多数基于OA成像的研究中常见的，需要将不成比例的成像时间用于在不同成像平面上获取多个形态学成像扫描。这导致将生理成像技术纳入研究方案的时间有限，可以在软骨体积损失之前检测软骨成分的变化。通常认为减缓或甚至停止早期OA的前景比减缓已建立的OA强得多，因此对生理成像方法的重视正在增加。本项目旨在开发一种高分辨率成像工具，用于快速“全器官”评估和膝关节软骨体积分析，用于OA研究。形态学关节成像的加速将有足够的时间将生理性软骨成像方法纳入研究方案，降低研究成本，提高受试者舒适度。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While advances in healthcare have extended the lifespan in the United States, these advances have also meant that nearly all Americans will face the debilitating effects of osteoarthritis (OA) at some point in life. The lack of progress in developing successful therapeutic agents for OA has forced new approaches to researching this degenerative process. These new approaches appreciate that it is important to investigate not just articular cartilage, but the interactions which occur between all joint structures in patients with OA. Investments in longitudinal studies such as the NIH supported Osteoarthritis Initiative aim to develop multifaceted databases to track the progression of OA in large subject populations in hopes that this data will be useful in developing and testing new hypotheses for unraveling the disease. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging methods serve as important surrogate biomarkers of disease progression in longitudinal OA studies such as the Osteoarthritis Initiative. However, given the constraints of cost and patient tolerance, MR examination times in OA research studies are generally limited to only 30 to 45 minutes. The need to assess all joint structures, known as "whole-organ" joint assessment and common to most OA imaging-based research, requires that a disproportionate amount of the imaging time be devoted to acquiring several morphologic imaging scans in different imaging planes. This results in limited time to incorporate physiologic imaging techniques into research protocols which can detect changes in cartilage composition prior to cartilage volume loss. The prospects for slowing or even stopping early OA are generally seen to be much stronger than slowing established OA, and thus the emphasis on physiologic imaging methods is growing. This project aims to develop a high resolution imaging tool for rapid "whole organ" assessment and cartilage volume analysis of the knee joint for use in OA research studies. The acceleration of morphologic joint imaging will allow sufficient time to incorporate physiologic cartilage imaging methods into research protocols, reduce research costs, and improve subject comfort. RELEVANCE (See instructions): In this project, we will develop a rapid MR imaging method for evaluating all joint structures which can cause pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Our single imaging method will replace multiple imaging methods currently used in OA research studies. Our new technology will improve patient comfort, reduce research costs, and allow sufficient time to add new imaging techniques sensitive to early cartilage breakdown into research protocols...