Evaluation of Bone Marrow Reconversion in Healthy Adults with Knee MRI

Objective: Radiologists encounter bone marrow reconversion (BMR) frequently when evaluating knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It is clinically important to know what these changes may be related to. The aim of this study to investigate the relationships between BMR at MRI with age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking and hemoglobin (hgb) levels in healthy adults. Methods: In this prospective study, 107 healthy adults aged 26-62 years (55 women, 52 men ) were evaluated with knee MRI. The participants were divided according to the smoking histories as two groups: nonsmokers and heavy smokers. Red bone marrow changes examined by a radiologist in coronal T1-weighted sequences and classified into four groups according to their sizes. The levels of blood hgb of all patients were acquired and BMIs’ were calculated. Statistical analyzes were performed with the SPSS 17.0 program. Results: 24 (54.55%) of 44 patients with BMR were nonsmokers and 20 (45.45%) were heavy smokers. No statistically relation was found between marrow BMR and smoking history (p>0,05). BMR was found to be more prevalent in obese female patients and over 41 years old patients (p<0,001). A statistically significant relationship between the grades of BMR and hgb values was detected (p=0.013). Conclusions: Whereas BMR is irrelevant with smoking, it is common especially in middle aged obese women. A significant relationship was found between the hgb values and the grades of BMR. These parameters should be kept in mind when BMR seen in MRI and these patients should be directed to laboratory assessment for anemia.