Cadena-Villela MC, Cosme-Labarthe JE, Ramírez-Carmona CR, Roldán-Valadez E

Language: English
References: 14
Page: 67-71
PDF size: 153.31 Kb.

ABSTRACT

The articular cartilage is the chondral lining of joint surfaces which has crucial importance on appropriate articular dynamic functioning, it absorbs and distributes load forces (most of them are absorbed by menisci), it also decrease friction between femoral condyles, favors an adequate synovial fluid distribution and contributes to maintain the articular width. Chondral lesions are associated to traumatic, degenerative and inflammatory events, and have an important impact on life quality of musculoskeletal system in amateur and professional athletes, and in general population. Nowadays articular degenerative conditions in US represent the second cause of labour absenteeism following to cardiovascular diseases. Magnetic resonance imaging allows an accurate, detailed and noninvasive evaluation of the structural and anatomic cartilage condition; the sequences in a conventional knee MRI demonstrate the cartilage morphology, detect inner lesions, defects, erosions and fissures; and there are specific physiologic sequences as the T2 mapping which detected alterations in the matrix, earlier stages of chondromalacia, and can correlate the T2 values with the depletion of collagen fibers and proteoglycans depending on post-processing of images with specific software. We present the case of a painful knee in which the cartilage did not show any alteration in the conventional knee MRI (morphologic sequences), however the use of the T2 mapping (physiologic sequence) allowed demonstration of increased T2 relaxation-time values representing an early chondral-matrix degradation stage.

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