Abstract:

Objective To investigate the diagnostic potential of combining 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） T2 mapping sequences with serum nesfatin-1 levels for detecting early osteoarthritis （OA） in elderly knees. Methods 97 elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis （OA group） and 52 elderly individuals undergoing physical examinations （control group） were recruited from a hospital between May 2023 and May 2024. Based on X-ray findings， the OA group was further divided into an early-stage subgroup and a non-early-stage subgroup. All participants underwent 3.0T MRI T2 mapping sequence scans to measure the T2 values in the knee cartilage region， and serum nesfatin-1 levels were assessed. Differences in these indicators were compared between groups. Additionally， a receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic value of these parameters for early-stage knee OA in elderly individuals. Results Among 97 elderly patients with knee OA， 35 cases were classified into the early-stage group， and 62 cases were categorized into the non-early-stage group. The T2 values in five cartilage regions of the knee and serum nesfatin-1 levels were significantly higher in the OA group compared to the control group （ P < 0.05）. Moreover， these values were significantly lower in the early-stage group than in the non-early-stage group （ P < 0.05）. The areas under the curve （AUC） for diagnosing early-stage OA using T2 values in knee cartilage regions and serum nesfatin-1 levels ranged from 0.774 to 0.871. Notably， the AUC for combined diagnosis reached 0.939 （ P < 0.05）. Conclusion 3.0T MRI using the T2 mapping sequence in combination with serum nesfatin-1 level detection demonstrates high diagnostic value for early OA in elderly patients with knee involvement.

Key words: early knee osteoarthritis, elderly, magnetic resonance imaging, T2 mapping sequence, nesfatin-1