Correlation of benign incidental findings seen on whole-body PET-CT with knee MRI: patterns of 18 F-FDG avidity, intra-articular pathology, and bone marrow edema lesions

Abstract

Objectives

To correlate patterns of ¹⁸F-FDG uptake on whole-body PET-CT with MR findings and compare the degree of FDG activity between symptomatic and asymptomatic knees.

Materials and methods

Retrospective database query was performed using codes for knee MRI as well as whole-body PET-CT. Patients with malignant disease involving the knee or hardware were excluded. Patients who had both studies performed within 1 year between 2012 and 2017 were included for analysis. Knee joint osteoarthrosis, meniscal and ligamentous integrity, presence of joint effusion, and synovitis were assessed and recorded. Bone marrow edema lesions (BMELs) were identified, segmented, and analyzed using volumetric analysis. SUVmax was assessed over the suprapatellar joint space, intercondylar notch and Hoffa's fat pad. Symptomatic and asymptomatic knees were compared in patients with unilateral symptoms.

Results

Twenty-two cases (20 patients) with mean age 63.3 years (range, 36–91 years) were included. Two patients had bilateral pain. The most FDG avid regions in both symptomatic and asymptomatic knees were the intercondylar notch (SUVmax = 1.84 vs. 1.51), followed by suprapatellar pouch (SUVmax = 1.74 vs. 1.29) and Hoffa's fat pad (SUVmax = 1.01 vs. 0.87). SUVmax was significantly associated with cartilage loss (mean modified Outerbridge score) (r = 0.60, p = 0.003) and degree of synovitis (r = 0.48, p = 0023). Overall, mean SUVmax was significantly higher in the presence of a meniscal tear (1.83 ± 0.67 vs. 1.22 ± 0.40, p = 0.030). Nine patients had BMELs (volume: range = 0.6–27.8, mean = 7.79) however there was no significant association between BMEL volume and SUVmax.

Conclusions

Higher FDG activity correlates with intra-articular derangement and the intercondylar notch represents the most metabolically active region of the knee.

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