Cartilage Repair Surgery: Outcome Evaluation by Using Noninvasive Cartilage Biomarkers Based on Quantitative MRI Techniques?

Figure 1

Left figure: T2-MACI. Quantitative T2 mapping of a 39-year-old male patient 24 months after MACI of the lateral femoral condyle (marked by arrows). The cartilage repair tissue showed a comparable ultrastructure compared to the surrounding native cartilage. Right figure: T2-MFX. Quantitative T2 map of a 31-year-old male patient 6 months after microfracture therapy of the medial femoral condyle (marked by arrows). The cartilage repair tissue showed still clearly increased T2 values. T2 maps were reconstructed using a multiecho spin echo (SE) acquisition, with a TR of 1200 ms and 6 TEs of 13.8, 27.6, 41.4, 55.2, 69, and 82 ms. The field of view was 160 × 160 mm, the pixel matrix was 384 × 384, and the voxel size was 0.4 × 0.4 × 3.0 mm. The bandwidth was 228 Hz/pixel, with 12 slices; total acquisition time was 4:09 minutes.