The compositional difference between ankle and knee cartilage demonstrated by T2 mapping at 7 Tesla MR

Vladimir Juras; Štefan Zbýň; Vladimir Mlynarik; Pavol Szomolanyi; Benedikt Hager; Peter Baer; Ivan Frollo; Siegfried Trattnig

doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2016.01.021

The compositional difference between ankle and knee cartilage demonstrated by T2 mapping at 7 Tesla MR

Eur J Radiol. 2016 Apr;85(4):771-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2016.01.021. Epub 2016 Feb 3.

Authors

Vladimir Juras¹, Štefan Zbýň², Vladimir Mlynarik², Pavol Szomolanyi³, Benedikt Hager², Peter Baer², Ivan Frollo⁴, Siegfried Trattnig⁵

Affiliations

¹ High Field MR Centre, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Imaging Methods, Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia. Electronic address: vladimir.juras@meduniwien.ac.at.
² High Field MR Centre, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
³ High Field MR Centre, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Imaging Methods, Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁴ Department of Imaging Methods, Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁵ High Field MR Centre, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Christian Doppler Laboratory for Clinical Molecular MR Imaging, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria.

PMID: 26971422
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2016.01.021

Abstract

Objectives: The aim was to systematically compare T2 relaxation times of the knee and ankle cartilage within subjects at 7T.

Methods: Ten healthy volunteers were examined by 7 Tesla MR using a three-dimensional triple-echo steady state sequence (3D-TESS). The differences between seven cartilage compartments (patella, femur, proximal tibia, and distal tibia and talus in both medial and lateral facet) were analyzed by ANOVA.

Results: The results showed statistically significantly higher T2 (mean ± standard deviation, in milliseconds) values in patellar (25.8 ± 1.2) and femoral (24.9 ± 1.3) cartilage compared to the tibial (19.2 ± 1) and talar (18.1 ± 0.6 ms) cartilage. The cartilages of the medial and lateral facet in the ankle joint were not significantly different (p>0.05).

Conclusions: This is the first study to systematically compare within-subject T2 values in the knee and ankle non-invasively, in vivo. Our results are in agreement with the previous findings demonstrating different biochemical and biomechanical properties between the knee and ankle cartilage.

Keywords: 3D-TESS; Ankle; Cartilage; T2 mapping; knee.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Ankle
Ankle Joint / anatomy & histology*
Cartilage, Articular / anatomy & histology*
Female
Femur / anatomy & histology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods
Knee Joint / anatomy & histology*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Patella / anatomy & histology
Talus / anatomy & histology
Tibia / anatomy & histology
Young Adult