Abstract #1975

Repeatability and Age-Related Change of Sodium in the Knee Articular Cartilage Measured with Sodium MRI

Seungbum Koo¹, Ernesto Staroswiecki^1,2, Neal Bangerter³, Brian Hargreaves¹, Garry Gold¹

¹Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; ²Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; ³Electrical & Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

Sodium MRI is sensitive to proteoglycan loss in cartilage. The goals of this study were twofold: to attempt to identify any age-related change of sodium signal in the knee cartilage, and to assess the repeatability of sodium signal measurements in cartilage at two time points. Fifteen subjects (ages 21 to 48 years) were scanned using sodium MRI. This relatively young population did not show age-dependent change in cartilage sodium signal but their medial tibiofemoral cartilage had significantly higher sodium signal than other regions. The average variability of the cartilage sodium signal within 48 hours was 6.6%.