Mikko Johannes Nissi1,
Jari Rautiainen1, Lauri Juhani Lehto1, Virpi Tiitu1,
Outi Kiviranta1, Hertta Pulkkinen1, Anne Brunott2,
Rene van Weeren3, Pieter Brama4, Ilkka Kiviranta5,
Jutta Ellermann6, Miika Tapio Nieminen7,8
1University of
Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; 2Brnott Equine Surgery &
Ortopedics, Netherlands; 3University of Utrecht, Netherlands; 4University
College Dublin, Ireland; 5University of Helsinki, Finland; 6University
of Minnesota, USA; 7University of Oulu, Finland; 8Oulu
University Hospital, Finland
Characterization of osteochondral repair using conventional MRI techniques is limited due to lack of signal from important tissues such as calcified cartilage and the bone matrix. SWIFT is capable of capturing signal from extremely short T2 species and is thus a very appealing method for the evaluation of osteochondral repair. In this study, spontaneous repair of chondral and osteochondral defects was investigated in an equine model using SWIFT and findings were correlated with micro -computed tomography. Results demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of SWIFT to reveal a high level of detail in repair tissue, particularly from calcified structures.