Researchers from Australia's Monash University have revolutionised knee scans with the development of new technology that harnesses the power of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The new technique measures loss of knee cartilage and is particularly useful in diagnosing osteoarthritis, one of the leading causes of pain and disability in the community and the most common musculoskeletal disorder affecting Australians.
Dr Flavia Cicuttini, who has spent the past five years perfecting the knee MRI scan, says it is a far more precise way of measuring cartilage loss. Until now, determining the extent of osteoarthritis in a patient has been done mainly with X-rays.
"MRI has often been used in assessing knee joints after injuries, such as in the case of footballers and sports stars, but until now it has not been used much in assessing the level of wear and tear in joints," she said. "X-rays can only detect big changes in the wearing out of joints over a long period of time, and until now there has been no other way to measure slight changes in osteoarthritis.
"But the problem is that X-rays only show bone, not cartilage, so it is a highly inaccurate way of determining the rate of cartilage loss."
The new technique focuses on the knee joint and shows the amount of cartilage, which is particularly useful in diagnosis of osteoarthritis.
"Instead of taking half-an-hour for a full MRI scan, our method only takes five minutes, which significantly cuts the cost," she said. "In time, this technology could be used as a screening tool available to the general public to assess cartilage damage, the extent of the damage and the possibility of the patient developing osteoarthritis.
"We expect in the future doctors will want to look at knee cartilage in much the same way as they are currently doing with bone density scans."