Sodium Concentration Reduction in Human Knee Cartilage with Healthy Aging

Rebecca Emily Feldman¹, Christian Beaulieu¹

Changes in sodium concentration may signify biochemical changes in cartilage that occur asymptomatically, and without loss of cartilage volume. Knee cartilage was investigated in 10 asymptomatic male volunteers, aged 19-58, using proton imaging to analyze cartilage thickness and both steady state and inversion recovery sodium sequences to assess sodium concentration. Sodium concentration was found to be unrelated to cartilage thickness, and negatively correlated to age in both patellar and lateral femoral cartilage for both sodium imaging techniques. Therefore, age should be considered in all sodium MRI measurements of cartilage.