Kinematic biomechanical assessment of human articular cartilage transplants in the knee using 3-T MRI: an in vivo reproducibility study

Eur Radiol. 2009 May;19(5):1246-52. doi: 10.1007/s00330-008-1242-0. Epub 2008 Dec 5.

Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine the clinical feasibility and reproducibility of kinematic MR imaging with respect to changes in T (2) in the femoral condyle articular cartilage. We used a flexible knee coil, which allows acquisition of data in different positions from 40 degrees flexion to full extension during MR examinations. The reproducibility of T (2) measurements was evaluated for inter-rater and inter-individual variability and determined as a coefficient of variation (CV) for each volunteer and rater. Three different volunteers were measured twice and regions of interest (ROIs) were selected by three raters at different time points. To prove the clinical feasibility of this method, 20 subjects (10 patients and 10 age- and sex-matched volunteers) were enrolled in the study. Inter-rater variability ranged from 2 to 9 and from 2 to 10% in the deep and superficial zones, respectively. Mean inter-individual variability was 7% for both zones. Different T (2) values were observed in the superficial cartilage zone of patients compared with volunteers. Since repair tissue showed a different behavior in the contact zone compared with healthy cartilage, a possible marker for improved evaluation of repair tissue quality after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) may be available and may allow biomechanical assessment of cartilage transplants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomechanical Phenomena*
  • Cartilage, Articular / pathology*
  • Cartilage, Articular / transplantation*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Chondrocytes / metabolism
  • Contrast Media / pharmacology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Knee Joint / pathology
  • Knee Joint / surgery
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software

Substances

  • Contrast Media