Choongsoo S. Shin1, Richard B. Souza1, Xiaojuan Li1, Brad Wyman2, Thomas M. Link1, C Benjamin Ma3, Sharmila Majumdar1
1Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Pfizer Inc., New London, CT, USA; 3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
The purpose of this study is 1) to compare human in vivo tibiofemoral cartilage-to-cartilage contact area using 3D-SPGR vs. T2-weighted FSE images; 2) to determine the influence of acute mechanical loading on tibiofemoral cartilage-to-cartilage contact area in the medial and lateral compartment. Cartilage contact area using both sequences showed strong positive correlation (Pearson Correlation coefficient =0.969). Acute loading significantly increases tibiofemoral cartilage contact area both at the medial and lateral compartments. Absolute changes as well as relative changes in cartilage contact under acute loading were more distinctive in the medial compartment.