MRI muscle volumes linked to risk of TKRs

CHICAGO – Having stronger thigh muscles may lower the odds of total knee replacement (TKR) surgery in patients with osteoarthritis, according to a study presented November 27 at RSNA 2023 in Chicago.Presenter Upadhyay Bharadwaj, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues used an MRI deep-learning (DL) model for 3D muscle segmentation to compute thigh muscle volumes in 134 patients with osteoarthritis who either did or did not have total knee replacement (TKR) of a single knee. Participants with stronger muscles underwent fewer surgeries, they found.“While these results are essential for targeted therapy in a population at risk for osteoarthritis, even the general public can benefit from our results to preventively incorporate appropriate strengthening exercises,” Bharadwaj noted.Advanced knee osteoarthritis is a major cause of pain and disability worldwide. In the U.S. alone, 14 million adults have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, and more than half of those diagnosed are projected to eventually undergo TKR surgery. While stronger muscles are generally associated with a lower rate of TKRs, their relative importance is not well established, Bharadwaj said. Of particular interest is the relationship between the extensors and the hamstrings, the two most important muscle groups in the knee.To that end,  Bharadwaj and colleagues studied 3-tesla MRI patient scans of the thigh obtained at the time of surgery, as well as two years and four years befor...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties MRI Musculoskeletal Radiology 2023 Source Type: news