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Published on: October 6, 2023
Determining Metacarpophalangeal Flexion Angle Tolerance for Reliable Volumetric Joint Space Measurements by
Stephanie Tom1, Mark Frayne1, Sarah L Manske1
1From the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario; McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary; the departments of Radiology and Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Musculoskeletal Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA; Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary; Faculty of Kinesiology, and Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.S. Tom, MD, Rheumatology Resident, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; M. Frayne, Bachelor of Applied Science Student, Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, and McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary; S.L. Manske, PhD, Research Associate, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary, and Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary; A.J. Burghardt, BS, Research Specialist, Musculoskeletal Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco; K.S. Stok, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich; S.K. Boyd, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiology, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, and Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, and Schulich School of Engineering, and Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary; C. Barnabe, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine and Department of Community Health Sciences, and McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary.
Objective:
The position-dependence of a method to measure the joint space of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) was studied.
Methods:
Cadaveric MCP were imaged at 7 flexion angles between 0 and 30 degrees. The variability in reproducibility for mean, minimum, and maximum joint space widths and volume measurements was calculated for increasing degrees of flexion.
Results:
Root mean square coefficient of variance values were < 5% under 20 degrees of flexion for mean, maximum, and volumetric joint spaces. Values for minimum joint space width were optimized under 10 degrees of flexion.
Conclusion:
MCP joint space measurements should be acquired at < 10 degrees of flexion in longitudinal studies.
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