Majid Chalian, M.D., receives SABR Emeritus Award for Young Academic Radiologists

Majid Chalian, M.D., an Assistant Professor and Section Chief of Musculoskeletal Radiology, received the Society of Academic Bone Radiologists (SABR) Emeritus Award for Young Academic Radiologists. Dr. Chalian was invited to present his project at the annual SABR meeting that was held July 28-29, 2022, in Boulder, Colorado.

A brief description of the project is below:

Compositional cartilage imaging; The QIBA Profile

MRI-based cartilage compositional analysis reveals biochemical and microstructural changes at early stages of osteoarthritis before changes become visible with structural MRI sequences and arthroscopy. This could help with early diagnosis, risk assessment, and treatment monitoring of osteoarthritis. T1rho and T2 mapping are the MRI techniques best established for assessing cartilage composition. Only T2 mapping is currently commercially available, which is sensitive to water, collagen content and orientation of collagen fibers, while T1rho is more sensitive to proteoglycan content. Clinical application of cartilage compositional imaging is limited by high variability and suboptimal reproducibility of the biomarkers, which was the motivation for creating the Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA) Profile for cartilage compositional imaging by the Musculoskeletal Biomarkers Committee of the QIBA. The profile aims at providing recommendations to improve reproducibility and standardize cartilage compositional imaging. The Profile provides two complementary claims (summary statements of the technical performance of the quantitative imaging biomarkers being profiled) on the reproducibility of biomarkers. First, cartilage T1rho and T2 values are measurable with 3T MRI with a within-subject coefficient of variation of 4-5%. Second, a measured increase/decrease in T1rho and T2 of 14% or more indicates a minimum detectable change with 95% confidence. If only an increase in T1rho and T2 values is expected (progressive cartilage degeneration) then an increase of 12% represents a minimum detectable change over time. The Profile provides recommendations for clinical researchers, clinicians, and industry scientists, pertaining to image data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation as well as assessment procedures for T1rho and T2 cartilage imaging and test-retest conformance. The aim of this special report is to provide the rationale for the proposed claims, explain the content of the Profile, and highlight the future needs and developments for MRI-based cartilage compositional imaging for risk prediction, early diagnosis, and treatment monitoring of osteoarthritis.

For more information, visit the SABR website.