Quantifying dog meniscal volume at 1.5T and 3.0T MRI

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Biomedical Imaging
• Orthopedics

Background:

• Dogs are vital experimental models for studying meniscal treatments, including meniscectomy and regeneration.
• Accurate quantification of meniscal size and morphology is essential for developing effective meniscal models.
• While 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers high accuracy for meniscus analysis, its use in veterinary medicine is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare meniscal volume measurements between 1.5T and 3.0T MRI systems in dogs.
• To evaluate the clinical relevance of using a proton density sequence for meniscal volume quantification.
• To assess the reproducibility of meniscal volume measurements using common MRI scanners.

Main Methods:

• Segmentation of MR images to create 3D surface models of medial and lateral menisci.
• Comparison of meniscal volume measurements obtained from 1.5T and 3.0T MRI systems.
• Analysis of inter- and intra-observer reproducibility for meniscal volume measurements.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in meniscal volume measurements were found between 1.5T and 3.0T MRI (average differences of 8.8% and 8.9%).
• High correlation coefficients (Pearson's r > 0.8, ICC = 0.899) were observed between the two MRI systems.
• Good inter- and intra-observer reproducibility was demonstrated (ICC = 0.942 and 0.814, respectively), though with some intra-observer variability.

Conclusions:

• Standard clinical MRI scanners and proton density sequences can reliably quantify canine meniscal volumes.
• Repeatable MRI measurements of meniscal volume are valuable for assessing outcomes after meniscal treatments in dogs.
• This study validates the use of accessible MRI technology for advancing canine meniscal research and treatment evaluation.