Three-dimensional delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) for in vivo evaluation of reparative cartilage after matrix-associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation at 3.0T: Preliminary results

✍ Scribed by Siegfried Trattnig; Stefan Marlovits; Simone Gebetsroither; Pavol Szomolanyi; Goetz H. Welsch; Erich Salomonowitz; Atsuya Watanabe; Michael Deimling; Tallal Charles Mamisch

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 546 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.21091

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Purpose

To use a 3D gradient‐echo (GRE) sequence with two flip angles for delayed gadolinium‐enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) to evaluate relative glycosaminoglycan content of repair tissue after matrix‐associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT).

Materials and Methods

In a phantom study, T1‐mapping based on a 3D‐GRE sequence with different flip angle combinations was compared with a standard inversion recovery (IR) sequence at 3.0T. Fifteen patients were examined after MACT in the knee at “3–13 months” (group I) and “19–42 months” (group II). The δ relaxation rate (δR1) calculated for repair tissue and normal hyaline cartilage was measured and mean values were compared in different postoperative intervals using analysis of variance.

Results

The flip angle combination 35/10° provided the best agreement with IR sequence for short and long T1 values. The mean δR1 for repair tissue was 2.49 versus 1.04 at the intact control site in group I and 1.90 compared with 0.81 in group II. Differences from repair tissue to control sites showed statistically significance for both groups; no significant difference was found between groups.

Conclusion

The 3D dual flip angle dGEMRIC technique optimized for cartilage imaging is comparable to standard T1 IR technique for T1 mapping. Furthermore, the preliminary in vivo study demonstrates the feasibility of the technique in the evaluation of MACT patients. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;26:974–982. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.