Application of 3D Modeling Software to Preoperative MRI for Prediction of Surface Area of Tissue Applied During Osteochondral Allograft Reconstruction of the Knee.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to estimate the quantity of tissue provided for fresh osteochondral allograft (FOCA) in the knee. Use of 3-dimensional (3D) MRI modeling software for this purpose may improve defect assessment, providing a more accurate estimate of osteochondral allograft tissue required and eliminating the possibility of acquiring an inadequate quantity of tissue for transplant surgery.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the capacity of damage assessment (DA) 3D MRI modeling software to preoperatively estimate the osteochondral allograft surface area used in surgery.

STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2.

METHODS: Included were 36 patients who had undergone FOCA surgery to the distal femur. Based on the preoperative MRI scans, the DA software estimated the total surface area of the lesion as well as the surface areas of each subarea of injury: full-thickness cartilage injury (International Cartilage Repair Society [ICRS] grade 4), partial-thickness cartilage injury (ICRS grade 2-3), bone marrow edema, bone loss, and bone cyst. The probability of overestimation of graft tissue areas by the DA software was calculated using a Bayes-moderated proportion, and the relationship between the prediction discrepancy (ie, over- or underestimation) and the magnitude of the DA estimate was assessed using nonparametric local-linear regression.

RESULTS: The DA total surface area measurement overestimated the actual area of FOCA tissue transplanted 81.6% (95% CI, 67.2%-91.4%) of the time, corresponding to a median overestimation of 3.14 cm2 , or 1.78 times the area of FOCA transplanted. The DA software overestimated the area of FOCA transplanted 100% of the time for defect areas measuring >4.52 cm2 . For defects <4.21 cm2 , the maximum-magnitude underestimation of tissue area was 1.45 cm2 (on a fold scale, 0.63 times the transplanted area); a plausible heuristic is that multiplying small DA-measured areas of injury by a factor of ∼1.5 would yield an overestimation of the tissue area transplanted most of the time.

CONCLUSION: The DA 3D modeling software overestimated osteochondral defect size >80% of the time in 36 distal femoral FOCA cases. A policy of consistent but limited overestimation of osteochondral defect size may provide a more reliable basis for predicting the minimum safe amount of allograft tissue to acquire for transplantation.