Cross-relaxation Imaging of Human Articular Cartilage MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE Stikov, N., Keenan, K. E., Pauly, J. M., Smith, R. L., Dougherty, R. F., Gold, G. E. 2011; 66 (3): 725-734

Abstract

In this article, cross-relaxation imaging is applied to human ex vivo knee cartilage, and correlations of the cross-relaxation imaging parameters with macromolecular content in articular cartilage are reported. We show that, unlike the more commonly used magnetization transfer ratio, the bound pool fraction, the cross-relaxation rate (k) and the longitudinal relaxation time (T(1)) vary with depth and can therefore provide insight into the differences between the top and bottom layers of articular cartilage. Our cross-relaxation imaging model is more sensitive to macromolecular content in the top layers of cartilage, with bound pool fraction showing moderate correlations with proteoglycan content, and k and T(1) exhibiting moderate correlations with collagen.

View details for DOI 10.1002/mrm.22865

View details for Web of Science ID 000293988000013

View details for PubMedID 21416504

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3130884