Abstract
BACKGROUND: Surgical treatment is the primary modality for meniscal tears, and assessment of recovery after meniscal surgery is important in the development of a patient's treatment plan. Synthetic MRI (SyMRI) can simultaneously provide an objective assessment of meniscal changes and contrast-weighted images for subjective evaluation. This study aimed to assess whether SyMRI, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative mapping, could accurately evaluate postoperative recovery status, using Lysholm scores as a reference. METHODS: From July to November 2022, 49 patients undergoing arthroscopic meniscus tear repair were enrolled. Each underwent conventional MRI and sagittal SyMRI on a 3.0 T scanner preoperatively, and at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. All patients completed the Lysholm form before MRI. Twenty-seven patients completed all MRI sessions. Meniscal T1 and T2 relaxation times, as well as proton density (PD) values, were measured. One-way ANOVA assessed changes over time, while Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses evaluated associations with Lysholm scores and Stoller grades, respectively. RESULTS: Only T2 relaxation times demonstrated significant differences across time points (P < 0.001). T2 relaxation times negatively correlated with Lysholm scores (r = - 0.772, P < 0.001), while T1 relaxation times and PD values showed no significant correlations. Stoller grade also showed a significant negative correlation with Lysholm scores (r = - 0.409, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: SyMRI-derived T2 relaxation time may serve as a quantitative biomarker for assessing postoperative meniscal healing. By enabling the acquisition of multiple MRI parameters in a single, time-efficient scan, SyMRI offers a noninvasive and practical tool for evaluating postoperative meniscal status and guiding clinical decision-making.