Considerations in measuring cartilage thickness using MRI: factors influencing reproducibility and accuracy

A rule-based approach can substantially increase inter-observer reproducibility when measuring cartilage thickness from multiple observers. This improvement in inter-observer reproducibility could be an important consideration for longitudinal studies of disease progression. In quantifying cartilage thickness, central and weight bearing regions on each condyle can provide more accurate measurement than boundary and non-weight bearing regions with average accuracy of ±0.2-0.3 mm. An important finding of this study was that the weight bearing regions, which are usually of the greatest clinical interest, were measured most accurately by sagittal plane imaging.