Longitudinal Cell Tracking and Simultaneous Monitoring of Tissue Regeneration after Cell Treatment of Natural Tendon Disease by Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Figure 4

Boxplots displaying the lesion percentage and lesion signal intensity quantified by ultrasonography and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in all cases and exemplary transversal MRI images from the different examinations before (pre, A–D) and directly (post) as well as 2 (2 w), 4 (4 w), and 8 (8 w, E–H) weeks after cell application. Displayed MRI images are T1-weighted gradient echo (T1w, A + E), -weighted gradient echo (, B + F), T2-weighted fast spin echo (T2w, C + G), and short tau inversion recovery fast spin echo sequences (STIR, D + H). In the boxplots, “a,” “b,” and “c” indicate lower values compared to T1w, , or STIR images, respectively (); stars indicate differences between T2w images from different examinations. The MRI images demonstrate the decrease in signal intensity and lesion percentage in the T2w and STIR sequences; lateral is displayed on the left.