Longitudinal evaluation of cartilage after osteochondral autogenous transfer with delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of the cartilage (dGEMRIC)

✍ Scribed by Takaaki Shirai; Masahiko Kobayashi; Shinichiro Nakamura; Ryuzo Arai; Kohei Nishitani; Tsuyoshi Satake; Leif E. Dahlberg; Hiroshi Kuroki; Yasuaki Nakagawa; Tomohisa Okada; Kaori Togashi; Takashi Nakamura

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 425 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0736-0266
• DOI: 10.1002/jor.21514

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The aim was to use repeat delayed gadolinium‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) to estimate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in reparative cartilage after osteochondral autogenous transfer (OAT). The study group comprised 7 knees of 7 patients that were examined three times by dGEMRIC, at 3, 6, and 12 months using a 1.5 Tesla MRI system in both OAT operated and nonoperated condyles at 90 min after the injection. The gadolinium diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd‐DTPA)^2−^ containing contrast medium (0.2 mmols/kg) was injected intravenously. The mean T1 values of the plug cartilage at 3, 6, and 12 months after OAT was 230 ± 40, 213 ± 31, and 230 ± 23 ms (mean ± SD), respectively. There were differences between the plug and control cartilage at 3 (p < 0.01) and 12 (p < 0.05) months after OAT, but not at 6 months (p = 0.089). No T1 changes were detected between the plug cartilage at the different time points after OAT. The fact that the GAG content of the OAT plugs were maintained for 12‐month study period suggest that no major deterioration of load‐bearing properties occurs in the cartilage after the OAT. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 30:221–225, 2012