Test-retest repeatability of the apparent diffusion coefficient in sacroiliac joint MRI in patients with axial spondyloarthritis and healthy individuals

Background: The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) may be used as a biomarker to diagnose axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and monitor therapeutic response.

Purpose: To measure the repeatability of the ADC in healthy individuals and in patients with axSpA with and without active sacroiliitis in a test-retest set-up, and to correlate ADC to conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) bone marrow edema (BME) scores and clinical findings.

Material and Methods: A total of 25 patients with axSpA and 24 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals were prospectively examined with MRI twice within 10 days. Short tau inversion recovery (STIR), T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging sequences were performed. Mono-exponential ADC maps were based on four b-values: 0; 50; 500; and 800. Inter-study repeatability and intra-reader reproducibility were investigated in subgroups, as were associations with conventional MRI and clinical findings.

Results: The inter-study repeatability for the median ADC was moderate for all individuals (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.66); it was good in patients with axSpA (ICC 0.79) and poor in healthy individuals (ICC 0.27). Significant differences in ADC were found between women and men (P = 0.03), and between patients with versus without BME on STIR (P = 0.01). ADC was associated with an MRI BME score and with age in women.

Conclusion: ADC seems to be a repeatable parameter in patients with axSpA but not in healthy individuals. ADC is correlated with MRI sacroiliac joint BME score and with age in women.