Impact of Climbing Activity and Age on Cartilage Structural Composition of the Metacarpophalangeal and Proximal Interphalangeal Joints Assessed by T2 Relaxometry at 7-T MRI

Introduction Our aim was to evaluate whether climbing activity and age is associated with differences in cartilage composition based on T2 relaxometry of the metacarpophalangeal and proximal interphalangeal joints compared with non-climbing controls at 7-T MRI.

Material and Methods Included were 13 longtime climbers who had been performing climbing activities regularly for at least 5 years (mean: 7.8 ± 3.2 years) as a recreational sport (> 10 hours/month). Subjects were age matched with 10 healthy control subjects not engaging in a climbing sport. A 7-T MRI of the second, third, and fourth finger was performed with a dedicated wrist coil using a multiecho spin-echo sequence. Manual segmentations were performed for five regions of interest (ROIs): four at the metacarpophalangeal joint and one at the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Results Mean age was 32 years for the climbing group and 26 years for the controls. Mean T2 values for the five different ROIs were 40.7 ± 10.9 ms for climbers and 39.1 ± 11.2 ms for non-climbers. No significant differences were observed for T2 values between the two groups. But age had a significant impact on T2 values for all assessed ROIs (44.2 ± 9.5 versus 32.9 ± 5.7; p = 0.001), whereas sex did not show any effect on T2 values.

Conclusion Climbing activity did not seem to have an impact on the cartilage composition of metacarpophalangeal and proximal interphalangeal joints. However, age-related effects may be more prominent regarding cartilage composition because older subjects consistently exhibited higher T2 values.