T2‐Mapping evaluation of early cartilage alteration of talus for chronic lateral ankle instability with isolated anterior talofibular ligament tear or combined with calcaneofibular ligament tear

Abstract

To quantitatively evaluate the cartilage alteration of talus for chronic lateral ankle instability (LAI) with isolated anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) tear and combined ATFL and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) tear using T2 -mapping at 3.0T. In all, 27 patients including 17 with isolated ATFL tear and 10 with ATFL+CFL tear, and 21 healthy subjects were recruited. All participants underwent T2 -mapping scan at 3T and patients completed American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scoring. The total talar cartilage (TTC) was segmented into six compartments: medial anterior (MA), medial center (MC), medial posterior (MP), lateral anterior (LA), lateral center (LC), and lateral posterior (LP). The T2 value of each compartment was measured from T2 -mapping images. Data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Student's t-test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The T2 values of MA, MC, MP, TTC in the ATFL group and MA, MC, MP, LC, LP, TTC in the ATFL+CFL group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the T2 values of MC, MP, LC, and TTC in the ATFL+CFL group were higher than those in the ATFL group (P < 0.05). The T2 values of MA in both patient groups were negatively correlated with AOFAS scores (r = -0.596, r = -0.690, P < 0.05). Chronic LAI with ATFL tear had a trend of increasing cartilage T2 values in talar trochlea, mainly involving medial cartilage compartments. Chronic LAI with ATFL+CFL tear might result in higher T2 values in a much larger cartilage region than with ATFL tear. MA could be the main cartilage compartment that may affect the patient's clinical symptoms. 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 3 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:69-77.