Abstract #1144

In Vivo Follow-up of Low-Grade Femoral Cartilage Defects using Sodium MRI at 7T

Stefan Zbyn^1,2,3, Vladimir Mlynarik¹, Vladimir Juras¹, Markus Schreiner^1,4, Pavol Szomolanyi¹, Didier Laurent⁵, Celeste Scotti⁵, Harry Haber⁵, Joerg Goldhahn⁵, Ewa Kubiak⁵, Oliver Bieri⁶, Stefan Marlovits⁷, Miika T. Nieminen^2,8,9, and Siegfried Trattnig^1,3

¹High Field MR Center, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ²Research Unit of Medical Imaging, Physics and Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, ³CD Laboratory for Clinical Molecular MR Imaging, Vienna, Austria, ⁴Department of Orthopaedics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ⁵Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland, ⁶Division of Radiological Physics, Department of Radiology, University of Basel Hospital, Basel, Switzerland, ⁷Department of Traumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ⁸Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland, ⁹Medical Research Center, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

Sodium (23Na) MRI was employed for the evaluation of patients with ICRS Grade I-II cartilage defects at 7T. 23Na data from defect, weight-bearing, and non-weight-bearing region of femoral cartilage were obtained at baseline, 8-days, 3-months and 6-months follow-up. Significantly lower 23Na values were found in defect than in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing regions at all time-points. While 23Na values in weight-bearing and in non-weight-bearing regions were stable over time, a significant decrease was found in the defects. 23Na-MRI allows noninvasive follow-up of changes in the cartilage GAG content and thus might be particularly useful for the evaluation of cartilage regenerating therapies.

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