Musculoskeletal Research

Our proprietary algorithms help isolate selected tissues to precisely quantify erosions, joint space and inflammation. Computer-aided approaches provide precise measurement of cartilage, bone, and other structures.

Osteoarthritis

VirtualScopics' algorithms enable segmentation of different tissue types such as bone, muscle, fat and fluid. Such segmentation proves valuable in the assessment of osteoarthritis which is a disease with multiple endpoints. It allows the very sensitive and specific measurement of all of the components of the knee joint and the detection of small changes in any of those segments over time.

MRI of cartilage in the knee coupled with automated measurement of volume and chemical composition can show disease changes in months. Such changes would not be apparent using standard x-ray evaluation for years.

We have conducted over 50 osteoarthritis clinical studies, from pre-clinical to Phase III, and analyzed more than 4,000 knee images.

Osteoarthritis Biomarkers:

  • Cartilage Morphology - biomarker for DMOAD efficacy
  • Bone Morphology - biomarker for early OA progression
  • BME, Fluid - correlated to clinical endpoints (pain and stiffness)
  • Tissue Quality (T2, dGEMRIC) - potential use as early markers of DMOAD activity

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a severe and disabling disease which affects soft tissues and bones of the joints. The disease generally progresses through three stages of development including synovitis, joint destruction, and deformity.

Our proprietary algorithms help isolate selected tissues to precisely quantify erosions, edema, joint space narrowing and inflammation. Computer-aided approaches enable us to provide precise measurement of synovium, bone and other structures.

Quantitative imaging can provide all of the following. A few of the measurements:

  • Total volume of enhancing tissue
  • Volume of enhancing synovium
  • Bone marrow edema (total volume, total volume per bone and count per bone)
  • Bone erosions (total volume, total counts, total volume per bone and count per bone)

Rheumatoid arthritis biomarkers:

X-Ray

  • Sharp Scores - Erosions and Joint Space Narrowing (JSN) in each hand and wrist
  • Sharp/van der Heijde scores - Erosions and JSN in each hand, wrist and foot
  • Simple Erosion Narrowing Score (SENS) - Simplified version of Sharp/van der Heijde scores

Ultrasound

  • Semi-quantitative measurement of synovial vascularity and synovial hypertrophy
  • Quantitative measurement of synovial thickness

MRI

  • OMERACT's Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Scoring System (RAMRIS) scores the following in the hand and wrist:
    • Bony erosions
    • Bone marrow edema
    • Synovitis
  • Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) images of the wrist or metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints can be obtained and the following measurements provided for both enhancing tissue and enhancing synovium:
    • Volume transfer constant (Ktrans)
    • Initial area under the curve (IAUC)
    • Blood-normalized IAUC - reduces variability due to injection
    • Rate of early enhancement/relative early enhancement rate
    • Maximum enhancement
    • Late or static enhancement

To learn more, download our information sheet: Imaging Assessment of Rheumatoid Arthritis or contact us at +1 585.249.6231, or sales@virtualscopics.com

© VirtualScopics 2013