Contrast Mechanisms in Quantitative Cartilage MRI
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Room A7 10:30-12:30 Moderators: Matthew F. Koff and Mikka Niemenen

10:30 226

Imaging of the Zone of Calcified Cartilage (ZCC) Using 3D Ultrashort TE Pulse Sequences
Jiang Du1, Won C. Bae1, Sheronda Statum1, Renie Biswas1, Michael Carl2, Atsushi Takahashi2, Christine B. Chung1, Graeme M. Bydder1
1
Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States; 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare Technologies, Menlo Park, CA, United States

The zone of calcified cartilage (ZCC) is a highly modified mineralized region of articular cartilage that forms an important interface between cartilage and bone. It is a region that may change dramatically in osteoarthritis (OA). However, all current clinical sequences show a signal void for the ZCC because of its short T2 and thin structure. Here we present 3D UTE sequences for ZCC imaging using three contrast mechanisms: dual echo acquisition and echo subtraction, single adiabatic inversion recovery (SIR) and dual inversion recovery (DIR). The feasibility of these techniques was tested on five cadaveric patellae on a clinical 3T scanner.

     
10:42 227. 

Ultrashort TE Enhanced T2* Mapping of Cartilage:   a Pilot Clinical Study
Ashley Williams1, Yongxian Qian2, Constance R. Chu1
1
Cartilage Restoration Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 2Magnetic Resonance Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

This work demonstrates the feasibility of in vivo 3-D UTE-T2* mapping of cartilage and examines the sensitivity of UTE-T2* to early cartilage degeneration compared to arthroscopic grading as the standard. UTE-T2* and standard T2 knee images were acquired on 10 subjects at 3T. Deep zone UTE-T2* values were significantly higher in softened cartilage compared to healthy (arthroscopic grade 1vs0, p<0.01).  Superficial zone UTE-T2* showed a trend for higher values in softened tissue compared to healthy (p=0.17). Standard T2  values showed no differences between healthy and softened cartilage. UTE-T2* mapping captures signal from deep cartilage better than standard T2 .

     
10:54 228

Change in the DTI Parameters of the Articular Cartilage with Progressive Proteoglycan Depletion
José G. Raya1, Gerd Melkus2, Silvia Adam-Neumair3, Olaf Dietrich4, Maximilian F. Reiser, Peter Jakob2, Christian Glaser
1Josef Lissner Laboratory for Biomedial Imaging, , University of Munich, Munich, Germany; 2Deparment of experimental physics V, University of Würzburg, Germany; 3Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Munich, Germany; 4Josef Lissner Laboratory for Biomedial Imaging, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Munich, Germany

DTI has great potential for the early diagnosis of osteoarthritis since it is sensitive to the proteoglycan (PG) content and the integrity of the collagen network. In this work we investigate the effect of progressive PG depletion on the DTI parameters. DTI and T2 of human bone-on-cartilage samples as well as their PG content were measured before and after proteoglycan depletion. ADC showed a linear (r2=0.86, P<0.007) dependence with the PG loss. The diffusion anisotropy (FA and first eigenvector) remained unchanged. Measurements of the T2 relaxation time demonstrated that the collagen structure of the cartilage was unaffected by PG depletion.

     
11:06 229.  

Loading and Knee-Alignment Have Significant Influence on Cartilage T2 in Porcine Knee Joints
Toshiyuki Shiomi1, Takashi Nishii1, Hisashi Tanaka2, Youichi Yamazaki3, Kenya Murase3, Akira Myoui1, Hideki Yoshikawa1, Nobuhiko Sugano1
1
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Osaka, Japan; 2Department of Radiology, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan; 3Department of Medical Physics and Engineering, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan

We developed a non-metallic pressure device to be used during MRI under variable loading or knee alignment conditions in excised porcine knee joints, and assessed the influence of loading and knee alignment on T2 mapping of the knee femoral cartilage.

     
11:18 230.

Quantitative Mri Reveals Early Cartilage Degeneration in Acl-Injured Knees - not available
Xiaojuan Li1, Daniel Kuo, Keerthi Shet, Christoph Stehling, Jonathan Cheng, Thomas Link, Benjamin Ma, Sharmila Majumdar
1Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States

Patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have a high risk of developing post-traumatic osteoarthritis. The goals of this study were: 1) to longitudinally evaluate cartilage matrix changes using T1ρ and T2 quantification; 2) to study the relationship between meniscal damage and cartilage degeneration. 12 patients with acute ACL-injures and 10 healthy controls were studied. Significantly elevated T1rho were observed at 1-year follow up. T1rho were more sensitive than T2 in detecting early changes in cartilage matrix in ACL-injured knees. Lesions in posterior horn of medial meniscus were correlated with accelerated cartilage degeneration in medial femoral condyle.

     
11:30 231

MRI of Bioregenerative Approaches in Cartilage Repair: Differentiation of Repair Tissue After Matrix-Associated Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation Using a Hyaloronic Acid-Based or a Collagen-Based Scaffold with Advanced Morphological Scoring and Bioch
Goetz Hannes Welsch1,2, Tallal Charles Mamisch3, Lukas Zak4, Matthias Blanke2, Alexander Olk2, Stefan Marlovits4, Siegfried Trattnig1
1MR Center, Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 2Department of Trauma and Orthpaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; 3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 4Center for Joints and Cartilage, Department of Trauma Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Aim of the study was to compare cartilage repair tissue at the femoral condyle noninvasively after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) using Hyalograft® C (HC), a hyaloronic acid-based scaffold, to cartilage repair tissue after MACT using CaReS®, a collagen-based scaffold, with morphological and biochemical MRI. Differences in the surface of the repair tissue using morphological MRI and higher T2 values for the cartilage repair tissue depicted by biochemical T2 maps indicate differences in the composition of the repair tissue that was based on a collagen scaffold (CaReS®), compared to the hyaloronic acid-based scaffold (HC), even two years post-implantation.

     
11:42 232

In Vivo Quantification of Cartilage Regeneration in an Equine Model at 3T Following Gene Therapy
Daniel James Clark1, Guang Jia1, Maria Isabel Menendez2, Seongjin Choi1, Craig James Miller, Steffen Sammet1, David C. Flanigan3, Alicia Louise Bertone2, Michael V. Knopp1
1
Radiology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; 2Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; 3Orthopedics, OSU Sports Medicine Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States

Currently, there is no established human sized model for cartilage regeneration.  This study is the first to assess the time course of healing in vivo using quantitative MRI in live ponies with cartilage thicknesses comparable to humans in a 3T clinical scanner. We use several innovative, quantitative methods including delayed contrast-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC), dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), and T2 mapping.  The results of this study strongly suggest that in vivo quantitative MRI can be used to monitor cartilage healing and characterize the physiological state of repaired tissue.

     
11:54 233

High Resolution Cartilage and Whole Organ Knee Joint Assessment: 3D Radial Fat-Suppressed Alternating TR SSFP
Jessica Leigh Klaers1, Ethan K. Brodsky1,2, Walter F. Block1,3, Richard Kijowski2

1Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States; 2Radiology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States; 3Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States

Effective cartilage imaging and whole organ joint assessment requires both high isotropic resolution and fat suppression or separation.  We present a single pass, 3D radial fat-suppressed Alternating TR (FS ATR) SSFP acquisition which provides ultra-high isotropic resolution of 0.33 mm (voxel volume of 1/27 mm3) throughout the entire knee joint and contrast the method against a two pass, 3D radial Linear Combination SSFP (LC-SSFP) method.  3D radial FS-ATR offers complete visualization of the articular cartilage surface, further enhancing the ability to appreciate submillimeter cartilage defects which is useful for longitudinal research studies of cartilage degeneration and simultaneous whole organ assessment.

     
12:06 234.

Diffusivity and Kinetics of Gadopentetate in Articular Cartilage in Vitro
Elli-Noora Salo1, Mikko J. Nissi1,2, Katariina Aino Maria Kulmala1, Juha Töyräs1,3, Miika T. Nieminen4,5

1Department of Physics, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland; 2Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; 3Diagnostic Imaging Centre, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; 4Department of Medical Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; 5Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

In the dGEMRIC method, full equilibrium of gadopentetate is required to quantify the proteoglycan content of articular cartilage. In this study, the diffusivity and kinetics of gadopentetate was studied by limiting equilibration only through the articular surface or deep cartilage. The distribution of gadopentetate in bovine cartilage samples was followed for 18 hours with repeated T1 mapping at 9.4 T. The results showed that full equilibration takes longer than previously assumed. Diffusion was faster through the articular surface. With equilibration through the articular surface, the superficial cartilage reached near-equilibrium relatively quickly, possibly allowing early visualization of superficial degenerative changes.

     
12:18 235

The in Vivo Transport of Anionic Contrast Agent Into Human Femoral Knee Cartilage
Eveliina Lammentausta1, Carl Johan Tiderius2, Leif E. Dahlberg2
1Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö, Joint and Soft Tissue Unit, University of Lund, Malmö, Sweden; 2Department of Orthopaedics, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden

The aim of the study was to investigate the distribution of Gd-DTPA2- into human knee cartilage in vivo at areas of different loading conditions. T1 relaxation time was measured before and regularly after triple does (0.3mM/kg) injection of Gd-DTPA2- for five healthy volunteers. Contrast agent transport was analyzed for three regions in femur and one in tibia, for deep and superficial cartilage separately. Different transport patterns were observed between weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing regions. The transport into deep cartilage was remarkably slower indicating transport only through cartilage surface.

     

 

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