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Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) morphological analysis of knee cartilage in healthy and anterior cruciate ligament-injured knees

  • Knee
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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

To analyze the morphological change in the cartilage of the knee after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury by comparing with that of the intact contralateral knee.

Methods

A total of 22 participants (12 male and 10 female patients) who had unilateral ACL injury underwent MRI scan of both the injured and intact contralateral knees. Sagittal plane images were segmented using a modeling software to determine cartilage volume and cartilage thickness in each part of the knee cartilage that were compared between the ACL-injured and the intact contralateral knees. Furthermore, the male and female patients’ data were analyzed in subgroups.

Results

The ACL-injured knees had statistically significant lower total knee cartilage volume than the intact contralateral knees (P = 0.0020), but had similar mean thickness of total knee cartilage (not significant: n.s.). In the male subgroup, there was no significant difference in cartilage volume and thickness between normal and ACL-injured knees. In the female subgroup, the ACL-injured knees demonstrated statistically significant difference in total knee cartilage volume (P = 0.0004) and thickness (P = 0.0024) compared with the normal knees. The percentage change in the cartilage thickness in women was significantly greater than that in men.

Conclusion

Cartilage volume was significantly smaller in the ACL-injured knees than in the contralateral intact knees in this cohort. Women tended to display greater cartilage volume and thickness change after ACL injury than men. These findings indicated that women might be more susceptible to cartilage alteration after ACL injuries.

Level of evidence

III.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the support of National Institutes of Health (NIH, Grant # R01 AR055612).

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St., GRJ 1215, Boston, MA, 02114 , USA

    Hong Li, Ali Hosseini, Jing-Sheng Li, Thomas J. Gill IV & Guoan Li

  2. Department of Sports Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Li

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  1. Hong Li
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  2. Ali Hosseini
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  3. Jing-Sheng Li
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  4. Thomas J. Gill IV
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  5. Guoan Li
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Correspondence to Guoan Li.

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Li, H., Hosseini, A., Li, JS. et al. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) morphological analysis of knee cartilage in healthy and anterior cruciate ligament-injured knees. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 20, 1496–1502 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-011-1723-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-011-1723-6

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