Afsaneh Amirabadi1, Elka Miller2, Logi Vidarsson1, Marshall S. Sussman3,4, Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng4,5, Andrea S. Doria1,4
1The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster site, Hamilton, Canada; 3Toronto General Hospital, the University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 4University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 5The Hospital for Sick Children , Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Early treatment of hemophilia, an inherited bleeding disorder, has been shown to reduce cartilage degeneration and long-term joint morbidity. Conventional T2 maps can be time consuming and non-feasible in clinical practice. In this study we validated a new short-TR T2 map technique for assessment of early cartilaginous changes over time in knees of a rabbit model of hemophilic arthritis. This technique proved to be a sensitive marker for detection of organizational changes in articular cartilage over time, correlating well with histological indexes of cartilage damage. Concomitant administration of USPIO contrast material overestimates the decrease of T2 map values over time.